NAD IV Therapy: What It Is, What It Does, & NAD+ Benefits
NAD IV therapy is used to directly increase the levels of NAD+ in your body in order to promote cellular energy. It’s a cutting-edge treatment that has gained popularity in recent years as a powerful anti-aging and wellness treatment. NAD+ benefits include boosting energy, cognitive function, healthy aging, immune function, and much more.
Most of us have very busy lifestyles, making it seem like we have to juggle a thousand different demands at any given minute. That’s why it’s common to have some days when you feel a little tired or fatigued from the hectic week you’ve just had. And, usually, a little extra rest on a Saturday morning or a short nap will do the trick to leave you feeling refreshed and renewed.
But what if that doesn’t do the job? What if you’ve been feeling run down for longer than you care to admit? Maybe you’ve had a few small metabolic issues over the years that you’ve been fighting and can’t quite recover from. It could come in the form of unwanted and stubborn weight gain, slightly elevated blood sugar levels, high blood pressure, trouble sleeping, feeling more on edge and anxious, and more.
What does it mean when your body just can’t quite recover the way it should? And, more importantly, what can you do to feel like your old self again?
If any of this sounds familiar, you’ll be happy to hear there is a therapy designed to help you reclaim your old energetic self again, and it’s called NAD IV therapy. Used to help you — the mom who puts herself last and feels completely run down, the over-exerciser who’s struggling to lose those last 10 pounds, the grandfather dealing with long COVID symptoms, or the small business owner dealing with the crippling stress of paying the bills and providing for your family — NAD therapy feeds your cells with the energy they need to repair and regenerate to support optimal health. This means it empowers you to not only make it through your days but truly thrive!
But what is NAD IV therapy, how does it work, and what tangible benefits does it offer? Keep reading to learn all about NAD treatment to learn if it’s right for you.
What is NAD IV Therapy?
NAD IV therapy, or nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide IV therapy, involves administering the vital molecule NAD+ directly into the bloodstream through an intravenous infusion. In fact, NAD+ is a coenzyme found in every single cell of your body, and it’s responsible for helping your cells convert nutrients into the energy you need to live.
Think of NAD as the gasoline in your autophagy engine: It helps your cells renew and repair, promoting longevity and overall health and well-being. Without enough NAD in your cells, they are more prone to damage from toxins, which only speeds up the aging process and leaves you at risk of developing a myriad of health concerns and diseases.
Before we continue, it’s important to discuss the difference between NAD and NAD+ IV therapy. NAD refers to the oxidized form of the coenzyme. Meanwhile, NAD+ (NAD plus) refers to the active form of the coenzyme that plays a vital role in your cellular energy production. This is why NAD IV therapy specifically involves infusing NAD+ directly into your bloodstream. And just as with any other IV therapy, by bypassing your digestive system (which is especially important here as NAD+ cannot be absorbed at all through your gut), NAD+ can be utilized immediately, resulting in enhanced effectiveness compared to taking oral NAD precursor supplements, such as nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN).
So, why would you choose to use NAD IV therapy? Your body has to assemble NAD+ before it’s used to produce energy in your cells, and you cannot absorb pure NAD+ from a supplement or food. Providing NAD+ straight into your bloodstream via a NAD infusion helps to offload the body’s resources needed to produce it. Note that while you can take precursors to NAD, such as NMN in supplement form, your cells still have to use additional nutrients such as CoQ10 to assemble NAD+ to produce energy.
NAD IV therapy is used to directly increase the levels of NAD+ in your body, which decline every year until it’s completely depleted due to factors such as aging, stress, poor diet, and certain medical conditions. And this decline leads to a natural decrease in your cellular energy production and your overall vitality, contributing to a wide range of age-related conditions, including fatigue, cognitive decline, and a weakened immune system.
Fortunately, rather than relying on synthetic chemicals or invasive procedures, getting an NAD infusion aids in replenishing your NAD+ levels, offering a holistic and integrative approach to optimize your health and well-being.
Types of NAD Infusions
There are various types of NAD infusions available, each tailored to address specific health concerns. Some of the most common types include:
Anti-Aging NAD IV Therapy. This NAD infusion is designed to slow down the aging process and promote longevity.
Energy and Performance NAD IV Therapy. This NAD infusion works to boost energy levels, improve athletic performance, and enhance overall physical and mental stamina.
Addiction Recovery NAD IV Therapy. This NAD infusion is utilized as a supportive treatment in addiction recovery programs, assisting in reducing withdrawal symptoms and cravings.
NAD+ Benefits for Your Health
NAD IV Therapy offers a wide range of benefits that can positively impact your health and quality of life. By replenishing the NAD+ levels in your body, this therapy can support cellular functions, slow down the aging process, and improve various physiological processes.
Here are some of the top NAD+ IV therapy benefits to know about.
1. Supports cellular health
As we discussed above, NAD IV Therapy promotes cellular health through its direct impact on your NAD+ levels. By optimizing your cells’ NAD+ concentrations, this therapy can enhance your cellular energy production, support your DNA repair, and improve your overall cellular function.
Additionally, NAD IV Therapy has been shown to boost the activity of sirtuins, which are proteins known to help regulate cellular processes and promote longevity. They also play a crucial role in various cellular functions, including aging, inflammation, metabolism, and stress response.
2. Enhances energy and performance
Whether you’re an athlete, a busy professional, or simply seeking to boost your energy levels, NAD+ benefits your body in an attractive way by enhancing your energy and performance. By optimizing your cellular energy production, NAD IV therapy provides your body with the fuel it needs to perform at its best.
In fact, people who undergo NAD infusions often report improved energy levels, mental clarity, and physical stamina.
3. Improves brain function and cognitive performance
NAD benefits extend to supporting brain health and cognitive function as well. In fact, research suggests that NAD+ plays a crucial role in DNA repair and the maintenance of neuronal integrity. By increasing your NAD+ levels, NAD IV therapy may even help to protect against neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s by helping to cool inflammation and slow down disease progression.
Here’s how: NAD+ plays a vital role in DNA repair and gene expression, which are essential for maintaining proper brain health. By increasing NAD+ levels, this therapy can improve memory, focus, and overall cognitive abilities. In fact, high levels of NAD+ in the body have been linked to enhanced brain function and cognitive performance.
Additionally, it’s important to note the benefits of NAD+ IV Therapy as they relate to your brain’s neurons. They’ve actually been found to stimulate the production of neurotrophic factors, which are proteins that support the growth and survival of your neurons. These factors play a vital role in neuroplasticity, which is the brain’s ability to adapt and form new connections. By enhancing your neuroplasticity, NAD+ benefits your memory, learning abilities, and overall cognitive performance.
Finally, NAD IV Therapy has been found to have positive effects on your mood and mental well-being as well. Studies have shown that NAD+ can help regulate neurotransmitters in the brain, such as serotonin and dopamine, which play a crucial role in mood regulation. By promoting a healthy balance of these neurotransmitters, NAD benefits include improving mood, reducing anxiety, and enhancing mental clarity.
4. Cools inflammation and fights oxidative stress
It’s well established that chronic inflammation and oxidative stress are underlying factors in numerous health conditions. Fortunately, by reducing these factors, NAD+ benefits your overall well-being and helps to reduce the risk of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases.
NAD IV Therapy contains anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, which help cool inflammation and fight oxidative stress in your body. Specifically, NAD+ molecules interact with certain proteins and enzymes involved in the inflammatory process, and this interaction helps to dampen the excessive immune response, which can lead to anything from allergies to autoimmune diseases including Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Chron’s disease, ulcerative colitis, lupus, Sjögren’s syndrome, and more.
Meanwhile, NAD+ acts as a cofactor for enzymes involved in the production of antioxidants, such as glutathione (a powerful antioxidant that helps protect cells from oxidative damage). By boosting your body’s production of glutathione and other antioxidants, NAD IV Therapy helps to restore the balance between free radicals and antioxidants, thereby reducing oxidative stress and promoting cellular health.
5. Promotes healthy aging and longevity
One of the most notable NAD+ benefits has been in regards to its potential anti-aging effects. The steady decline we all experience in NAD+ levels is closely associated with the aging process. By replenishing NAD+ in the body, this therapy may help slow down the aging process and promote longevity.
In fact, studies have shown that NAD IV therapy can enhance mitochondrial function, which is essential for cellular energy production and overall health. Research has shown that by supporting DNA repair mechanisms, enhancing mitochondrial function, and cooling inflammation, NAD IV therapy can help slow down the aging process and promote graceful aging.
6. Supports cardiovascular health
Another great NAD IV therapy benefit is that it has shown promising results in supporting cardiovascular health. As we’ve discussed, NAD+ enhances mitochondrial function in cells, and this is vital for energy production and maintaining a healthy heart and blood vessels.
By optimizing cardiovascular function, this therapy can decrease your risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, and other related conditions.
7. Assists in addiction recovery
By restoring NAD+ levels in the body, NAD IV therapy has been shown to help reduce withdrawal symptoms, cravings, and drug-seeking behaviors for those recovering from addiction. This is largely due to its ability to optimize cellular function, which aids in both repairing the damage caused by substance abuse and promoting overall well-being during the recovery process. Often, NAD infusions are used in conjunction with other addiction treatment modalities to provide comprehensive support.
8. Enhances immune system function
Another significant NAD+ benefit is its ability to support immune cell activation, which helps your body fight off infections and diseases. By boosting your immune function, this therapy can improve your overall health and reduce the frequency and severity of illnesses, including those dealing with post-COVID and long COVID concerns.
Specifically, NAD+ helps to activate immune cells, such as T cells and natural killer cells, and enables them to effectively target and eliminate pathogens. But that’s not all. NAD IV therapy also promotes cytokine production, which is essential for proper immune responses.
9. Supports healthy weight management and metabolism
Maintaining a healthy weight and a fast metabolism is crucial for overall well-being, but this can become harder as you age. Fortunately, NAD IV Therapy can support weight management and metabolism by optimizing the metabolic processes in your body.
As you now know, NAD+ is involved in various metabolic reactions, including the conversion of food into energy. By enhancing your cells’ metabolic efficiency, NAD+ benefits weight loss efforts, increases your energy levels, and improves your overall body composition.
In addition, NAD infusions help to regulate insulin sensitivity and support healthy blood sugar levels, a benefit that’s particularly helpful for those with metabolic disorders such as diabetes or insulin resistance.
What to Expect with NAD IV Therapy
Before starting NAD IV therapy, it’s important to consult with a qualified healthcare professional who can assess your personal health needs and determine the best treatment plan for you.
During the infusion, you can expect to relax in a comfortable setting while the NAD+ solution is administered through an IV. The duration of the infusion will vary depending on your specific treatment protocol, but it can range from a few hours to several sessions spread over consecutive days.
While the experience is generally well-tolerated, some individuals may experience mild side effects such as flushing, dizziness, or fatigue during or after the infusion. These effects are usually temporary and subside quickly.
Getting a NAD Infusion at The Dearing Clinic
At The Dearing Clinic in Nashville, we often will recommend the use of preparation doses before your NAD infusion. Typically, the average patient will receive 12.5 grams of vitamin C up to six times over the course of two to four weeks prior to NAD IV therapy. We do this because we’ve found that patients with high levels of internal inflammation may feel more fatigued after their NAD infusion.
By providing several high-dose vitamin C infusions, we’re able to help cool the inflammation so that our patients tolerate the NAD infusions better and experience less side effects. Typically, we recommend to receive NAD IV therapy anywhere from monthly to quarterly for maintenance, with the frequency depending on your individual health goals and history.
If you have any specific questions regarding NAD+ benefits or want to learn more about our specific NAD IV therapy protocol or other IV vitamin therapy offerings, contact us for more information.
Key Takeaways
NAD+ is a coenzyme responsible for helping your cells convert nutrients into the energy you need to live.
NAD IV therapy involves administering NAD+ directly into the bloodstream through an intravenous infusion to help your cells better renew and repair themselves.
NAD IV Therapy offers a variety of benefits that extend beyond cellular functions and aging. From enhancing brain function and cardiovascular health to boosting immune system function and supporting healthy weight management, NAD infusions have the potential to improve various aspects of your health and well-being.
