Is Nicotinamide Riboside the same as Nicotinamide?
NO!
Unfortunately, Nicotinamide Riboside carries a confusingly similar name to the main ingredient in our product… Nicotinamide.
Nicotinamide Riboside is a different molecule than Nicotinamide/Niacinamide. These are also different molecules than Nicotinic acid which is commonly known as Vitamin B3.
Image from:
https://bpsbioscience.com/nad-plus-nicotinamide-adenine-dinucleotide
I know this looks confusing, plus a lot of information is missing from this more simple diagram.
This NAD+ pathway is thought to be responsible for both energy and how the body ages. There has been a lot of research on the various molecules in this pathway to find the fountain of youth. Many believe that cancers are caused by a disruption in this pathway, and therefore the cure for cancer would come from manipulating this pathway in some way.
First I want to clarify that a recent study causing many people cause for concern is regarding Nicotinamide Riboside. This is a different molecule than Nicotinamide.
You can see from the above diagram that these both come from the diet. In the above diagram they also have Nicotinic acid coming from the diet (this is what we know as plain Vitamin B3).
A study on one of these molecules doesn’t equate to the same effect from one of the other molecules. (We know that Nicotinic acid reduces cholesterol and causes flushing side effects but does not have any effect on skin cancers, however Nicotinamide has no effect on cholesterol, doesn’t cause flushing symptoms and does have an effect on skin cancer formation.)
Next, this study was a small study done on mice, using a new technique (bioluminescent probe) to see Nicotinamide riboside in the live cell. They determined that in mice with a rare deadly type of breast cancer, that Nicotinamide riboside was present in these cells and those mice resulted with metastatic cancer to the brain from the breast cancer.
This was published in a journal called “Biosensors and Bioelectronics”.
This small study doesn’t compare with the other many studies in large journals showing the benefits of Nicotinamide riboside… But like I said earlier, this is all very early in our understanding of what is going on here.
Typically studies like this imply that further research is needed, but to date, we don’t have a human trial study saying that this is true, and therefore these types of studies are often ignored.
Here is a study published in Experimental Dermatology Journal. This article is a good review article that references Nicotinamide studies over the years and the safety profile of Nicotinamide.
This shows a long history of use of Nicotinamide in humans with a very good safety profile.
In conclusion… The supplement you are taking from our brand is not the same as the one referenced in this study.
To date, there is no evidence that this supplement is harmful, there is only evidence that it has some benefits in a variety of diseases.