NAD(+) or nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide is an essential co-enzyme that we cannot live without. It is found in all living cells. It serves as an essential co-factor and substrate for a number of critical cellular processes involved maintaining cellular repair and resiliency, sustaining neurological, muscular, cardiometabolic and mental health, energy production in the form of ATP (adenosine tri-phosphate), anti-aging properties through sirtuins, to name a few.
NAD+ improves insulin sensitivity & boosts metabolism, improves stress resistance, and is neuro-protective and improves mood, as well as diminishing fatigue and brain fog. It is used in alcohol and addiction withdrawal as it can bind to opioid receptors and decrease opioid withdrawal symptoms. It can also scavenge free radicals and other toxins in the body including drugs and alcohol and remove them from your body.
NAD can be best understood as an energy “currency” of the cell. It is derived from vitamin B3 (Niacin). Its main function is the production of energy in every cell, without energy there could be no physical life.
Some of the more important aspects of NAD therapy is that it can be used to treat a host of health conditions, like substance addiction, Alzheimer’s Dementia, Parkinson’s Disease, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, PTSD, Depression & Anxiety and a host of other behavioral health problems, as well as for toxin reduction/elimination.
Did you know that NAD+ Levels greatly diminish as we get older? By age 50, we have 40% less NAD+ than at age 20. By age 80, NAD+ levels drop as much as 98%. When our NAD+ drops, our cells that the inability to protect our DNA or mitochondria, and this is perhaps why aging happens and also why cancer is so much more prevalent as we age.
NAD+ has really garnered some research and attention in the area of addiction treatment, especially in substances withdrawal.
After many years of research on the use of amino acids, minerals and vitamins to speed up the detoxification process from opiates, alcohol and other drugs, Dr. William Hitt, an American doctor and scientist, created a protocol for drug addiction recovery, known as Neurotransmitter Restoration Therapy, (NTR). This protocol addressed the neurotransmitter depletion and neurotransmitter receptor damage due to drug or alcohol overuse. Drugs produce their psychological effect by mimicking brain neurotransmitters, either by plugging into the receptor site or modifying the receptor site itself. When drug abuse ceases, the brain recovers on its own, but it may take up to a year or more.
This protocol speeds up this recovery time, therefore reducing the possibility of relapse due to cravings. studies found that his protocol not only reduces cravings but limits side effects of drug withdrawal and promotes long term recovery.
In the 1980’s with the support of the World Health Organization, Dr. Hitt, conducted a clinical trial in his clinic in Mexico. He administered his Neurotransmitter Restoration Therapy protocol to 3000 patients and follow them up for 3 years. After 3 years, 70% of them were still sober, 2-7x higher than the recovery rate of conventional approaches.
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