A randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial of nicotinamide riboside in obese men: safety, insulin-sensitivity, and lipid-mobilizing effects

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial paper looks at NAD+.

NR, an NAD+ precursor, is a member of the vitamin B-3 family now available as an over-the-counter supplement.

Although data from preclinical trials appear consistent, potential effects and safety need to be evaluated in human clinical trials.

Who Took Part

PubMed indexes the participants as adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, men only.

The researchers determined the effects of NR supplementation on insulin sensitivity by a hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp and substrate metabolism by indirect calorimetry and labeled substrates of tritiated glucose and palmitate.

Body composition and fat mass distribution were determined by whole-body dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) and MRI scans, and measurements of intrahepatic lipid content were obtained by MR spectroscopy.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and parallel-group study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got NAD+ and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Neither the participants nor the staff measuring them knew who was on NAD+, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with NAD+ could be set against what happens without it.

The NAD+ group and the comparison group ran side by side rather than switching.

What Was Measured

Although data from preclinical trials appear consistent, potential effects and safety need to be evaluated in human clinical trials.

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Body Composition, Dietary Supplements, Glucose, Insulin Resistance, Lipid Metabolism, Niacinamide and Obesity.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of NAD+.

Its findings take up roughly 5 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2018 (The American journal of clinical nutrition), a journal based in United States.

More context: the NAD+ compound page.