Charles Brenner, PhD Profile picture
Aug 14, 2019 7 tweets 2 min read Read on X
A few words about #Niagen--the journey from yeast to ppl. Pellagra was cured with foods 100 yrs ago. Elvehjem showed NA & NAM are pellagra-preventive 80 yrs ago. Extensive data show beneficial effects of high dose NA in ppl, though uses are limited by flushing. /1
RDA guidelines indicate that ~15 mg/day prevents pellagra but no research has established amounts of a "niacin equivalent" to optimize health. Our 15 yrs work on #nicotinamideriboside establish that it is a uniquely powerful NAD precursor in animal models of metabolic stress. /2
Clearly, at high doses, the 3 forms of B3 are not equivalent. Value of NR derives from wide expression of NRK1 gene & induced expression of NRK1,NRK2 when NAD is under attack (best examples: fatty liver, neurodegeneration, heart failure). /3
@ChromaDex did things the right way: NDI and GRAS notifications, human safety studies establishing oral availability & now there are dozens of therapeutic trials. Some ppl criticize us for not making human health claims. Others for @truniagen selling an OTC product. /4
We take an evidence-based & safety-first approach. I don't "recommend Niagen"--I'm not your doctor. I do take it & was the first person to do so. I certainly recommend ppl not take stuff that's not safety tested. /5
I do research in animals & ppl to dissect mechanisms & to identify the ppl who will benefit the most. Ppl using the product have in fact generated hypotheses we would not have had from animal research alone. Examples: grey hair regaining pigmentation, jetlag & workout recovery./6
We're encouraged that the technologies of quantifying the NAD metabolome & looking at when NRK1,2 genes are induced are a roadmap to conditions in which NR is active. We'll always be guided by safety, evidence and ethical conduct. We're going as fast as we can and no faster 🤓🙏.

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More from @CharlesMBrenner

Jul 12, 2023
today @davidasinclair is telling the world that he has achieved age reversal with chemical cocktails

he submitted the paper on June 30 & it was accepted on July 4 by a journal of which he is coeditor-in-chief

paper was sent to me 3 days ago by a reporter for comment
reporter was told it is a "groundbreaking study" & "the first chemical approach to reprogram cells to a younger state"
reason WSJ didn't cover that paper is that ppl have been reporting chemical compounds that drive conversion of cells to induced pluripotency for the last 10-15 years

all of the compounds in today's paper were previously reported by others, mostly in 2013
Read 10 tweets
May 11, 2023
a lesson about selected traits & how to tell if someone is BSing about aging

look in the animal word, especially wild animals:

animals are clever, terrific at finding food, protecting themselves & their babies

they use strength, appearance & guile to mate

1000s of genes
are required for these abilities & they are selected:

animals w good brains & musculature have babies w good brains & musculature

animals that can't see or smell predators don't survive & therefore contribute little to the gene pool

that's how selection works

dobzhansky said
"nothing in biology makes sense except in light of evolution"

this is your strongest protector against BS

now let's switch to yeast

if you want to look at aging there are two ways to study it:

you can either keep cells in a very old test tube & see how long they survive
Read 10 tweets
Jan 12, 2023
there's a peer review failure today doi.org/10.1016/j.cell… in which an individual with 59 collaborators claims to have tested the information theory of aging

he did not test the information theory of aging
the claim is that he induced dsDNA breaks that are easily repaired, don't cause a DNA damage response or mutagenesis or cell death--only an epigenetic change

he knows this is not true because his co-first author & he published this paper in dec '21

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34932948
the exact treatment causes a p53-dependent damage response, differentiation & cell elimination

far from a purely epigenetic mechanism, he's aged the cells bc he damaged their DNA & a bunch of cells differentiated & died in the process
Read 4 tweets
Dec 11, 2022
hi all

there are a few issues being addressed here. let’s start w safety

human placebo controlled trials have never shown adverse events attributable to Niagen. note that LDL-C is raised in humans w Basis & pterostilbene alone
the class of compounds to which NR belongs is vitamin B3

there are decades of human data on these molecules showing human safety. niacin is unique in causing flushing but nicotinamide was tested in large Australian skin cancer and was shown to be cancer-preventative in ppl
there’s a hierarchy of evidence w human RCTs (and meta-analysis of RCTs) on the top. human case reports & good quality rodent studies are lower. cell studies are lower. poorly conducted rodent and/or poorly conducted cell studies are garbage in/garbage out
Read 13 tweets
Nov 17, 2022
with ppl's heightened awareness of NAD, it's important to reset expectations on aging and what the use cases are for compounds like NR

aging is not optional

if you are reading this, you are aging

you can age poorly or you can age better but you are going to age
human aging is remarkably different from yeast, worm, fly & mouse aging

it is not true that dominant longevity genes found in yeast promote longevity in ppl

while it is true that there are worm & mouse mutants that are extremely long lived, they are sterile dwarves
CRISPR doesn't enable human lifespan extension bc there's no known gene you'd want more copies of to extend your life

there are no activators of longevity genes--the resveratrol story said so but it's known to be incorrect

it's just a story
Read 8 tweets
Sep 19, 2022
🧵

the ancient writer Herodotus is considered the father of history

in his writings are legendary waters that allow its inhabitants to stay forever young

the story was bullshit of course
explorers used such stories to go on adventures and conquests

around 120 yrs ago, Diamond Lil MacConnell created a Florida theme park out of a well on her property but the waters have no magical property
today we can ask whether all the longevity talk is still a grift or is there a substantive advance behind some folks’ optimism about lifespan?

the most vocal optimists are all selling something: books, podcasts, seminars, drugs, etc
Read 16 tweets

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