Can nicotinamide riboside protect against cognitive impairment?

Nicotinamide riboside is a precursor to nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), an important pyridine nucleotide, and may be used as a therapeutic agent to reduce age-related cognitive decline. Based on recent findings, oral supplementation with nicotinamide riboside inhibits the accumulation of pathological features of Alzheimer's disease and improves learning and memory in various mouse models of dementia.

Nicotinamide riboside can also reduce DNA damage, neuroinflammation, apoptosis, and improved hippocampal synaptic plasticity in diabetic mice, and another Alzheimer's disease mouse model. The cognitive benefits of nicotinamide riboside in Alzheimer's disease models may be modulated in part by upregulation of proliferator-activated-γ coactivator 1α-mediated β-secretase 1(BACE-1) ubiquitination and degradation, preventing Aβ production in the brain. Nicotinamide riboside also maintained blood-brain barrier integrity and maintained the gut microbiota in a mouse model for cerebral small vessel disease and alcohol-induced depression, respectively. Oral nicotinamide riboside has been shown to be bioavailable and well tolerated in humans with limited adverse effects compared to other NAD+ precursors.Summary: Oral nicotinamide riboside may represent a promising stratagem to improve cognitive decline during 'normal' ageing, Alzheimer's disease and other diseases. Results from recent clinical trials are needed to enumerate the preclinical benefits in humans.

References:

[1] NADY BRAIDY  Yue L. Can nicotinamide riboside protect against cognitive impairment?[J]. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition and Metabolic Care, 2020: 413-420. DOI:10.1097/MCO.0000000000000691.