NAD⁺ drives cellular energy production as well as the function of several metabolic enzymes, and researchers are constantly discovering more about its connections to cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and a wide range of other health conditions. Meanwhile, your patients are probably hearing about NAD⁺ supplements and infusions through social media biohacking gurus, often self-dosing with zero medical guidance and unaware of possible contradictions and interactions.
It’s high time that you as a doctor know about NADs as well – not just to separate NAD science from potentially dangerous wellness hype, but because NADs hold enormous potential to enhance your practice.
In this blog post, we’ll share the key points every doctor should know to make the most of NAD testing in clinical practice and clarify some myths along the way.
1. NAD testing reveals your patient’s metabolic state
NAD⁺ is the active form of vitamin B3 in the body, and it’s needed for hundreds of reactions that generate energy, manage stress, and support cellular repair. That’s why it’s no wonder that a wide spectrum of health issues from infections to metabolic conditions, neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases, and even cancers can disrupt NAD levels.
For diagnostic purposes, NADs are measured from whole blood. This NAD blood test gives you a detailed view of your patient’s metabolic health and helps you move from treating only symptoms to tracing these symptoms back to their underlying causes. In clinical practice, NAD testing also provides doctors with the ability to detect early signs of disease and intervene as promptly as possible.
2. NAD testing enables personalized treatment
NAD testing represents a huge step toward truly personalized treatment. Tracking your patient’s metabolic status via NAD levels you can make smarter treatment decisions, evaluate who actually needs NAD supplementation, optimize dosing, and monitor treatment efficacy in real time.
Researchers are constantly revealing new ways to utilize NAD testing in clinical practice, so keeping up to date with the latest findings is a great way to stay at the forefront of personalized medicine. As patients are becoming increasingly informed about personalized treatment options, adding NAD testing to your clinical toolkit gives you a competitive edge in offering the individualized care they are seeking.
3. NAD levels don’t automatically decline with age
Time to debunk the long-held belief about inevitable age-related NAD decline. Recent research, including our own latest study, shows that NAD levels actually remain stable throughout aging in healthy individuals. A drop in NAD levels is not an inevitable part of aging itself, it’s associated with age-related diseases instead.
This distinction matters, as NAD⁺ boosters and infusions are pushed by supplement companies, influencers and wellness magazines with promises of eternal youth and vitality. The messaging can create an illusion that everyone over a certain age is in urgent need of a NAD⁺ boost. Boosting already normal NAD levels might be harmful, so regardless of your patient’s age, you should always determine if they truly need NAD⁺ supplementation or not. A proper health check-up combined with NAD testing will give you the real answer.
4. Don’t focus on NAD⁺ alone – consider measuring other NAD metabolites too
NAD⁺ levels already tell you plenty about your patient’s health, but still, they’re just one quarter of the story. Altogether, there are four forms of NADs: NAD⁺, NADH, NADP⁺, and NADPH, and each of them has something important to say. Let’s take NAD⁺ and NADH REDOX pair as an example – their ratio may serve as an indicator for monitoring diabetes and neurodegenerative diseases.
Measuring NAD metabolites, especially NADH, used to be challenging, but today supporting personalized care with NAD testing is more straightforward than ever. All four NAD metabolites can now be measured precisely and cost-effectively from a single sample, with results available in just a few days.
Read more about NADs and the NADMED method here.
Kai Herdin
CMO