How Much NMN Should People Take?
by Nils Osmar. January 1, 2020 – Updated January 9, 2022
Several supplements have been shown to increase NAD levels in the human body, restoring them to a more youthful level. The two most popular are NMN (nicotinamide mononucleotide) and NR (nicotinamide riboside). The one I have the most personal experience with is NMN, so I’ll be talking about it in this article.
NAD is essential to many bodily functions, and levels are significantly higher when we’re young. Some researchers believe that restoring them to more youthful levels could help reverse or slow down some aspects of the aging process ––– that in fact doing so may be one of the most powerful things we can do to begin reversing aging. It’s not the only important thing, but it’s one I wouldn’t ignore if your interest is in living longer
“What Would David Do?”
The Harvard Medical School researcher who’s done the most to educate the public about NMN, Dr. David Sinclair has said that he takes “around a gram” of NMN per day himself (plus resveratrol and trimethylglycine).
When we talk about grams, remember that we’re really talking about weight, not volume. In other statements, he’s said he said that he takes about a teaspoon a day. By my measurement, this is actually about 1.25 grams.
And he’s said that the 250 mg. that most people are taking is probably too low to have much of an effect.
I should be clear that he has not recommended an exact dose at this point (or even recommended that others take NMN, NR or other NAD boosters). He’s just shared the information that he’s taking it himself, and said how much may be too little for people who are doing the same.
So how much should the rest of us be taking? Should we follow Dr. Sinclair’s lead, as many do, and try to duplicate his regimen? Or is there a way to tailor the dose more specifically to your own body weight and still get the benefits of NMN (without spending quite so much)?
8 mg per kg of Body Weight
The answer, according to the authors of a recent research study, is to take a bare minimum of 8 mg of NMN per kg of body weight per day. From the study:
“Given that 100 mg/kg/day of NMN was able to mitigate most age-associated physiological declines in mice, an equivalent surface area dose for humans would be ~8 mg/kg/day, providing hope to translate our findings to humans.”
If the authors are correct, then to find how much NMN you need at the minimum, you would first need to find your weight in kg, then multiply by 8.
- If you measure your weight in pounds, convert pounds to kg.
- To do this, take your weight in pounds and multiply it x 0.453592.
- Then multiply the answer x 8.
- In my own case, I weigh 180 pounds. 180 x 0.453592=81.
- 81 x 8=648.
- This means I would need to take 648 mg/day (plus some resveratrol if I want to activate the sirtuin 1 gene).
A friend of mine who also takes NMN weighs 120 pounds (about 54 kg). 54 x 8=432. So if this study’s conclusions are accurate, 432 mg/day would be enough for her to achieve the benefits experienced by the lab animals in the study.
Or just multiply by 3.6
- To make it easier – if you know your weight in pounds – you could just multiply it by 3.6.
- This should give you the same answer as the more complicated formula above.
But How Much is Ideal?
So that’s the minimum. But how much is ideal?
It’s hard to know because we’d need to factor in elements such as our age, gender, and state of health, all of which can could increase our needs. I’ve found that for myself, taking more than the minimum works best. When I increase the dose, I feel a little “jolt” or “lift” from the NMN which I don’t with the minimum dose.
- My minimum would be 648 mg per day. But I’m not a 30 year old; I’m 69 years old. So I might need much more.
- One the other hand, I don’t have any morbidities to worry about; no cancer, diabetes, heart disease, or other health conditions.
- So I started form the minimum, then tried different amounts. When the price went down (when DoNotAge started a price war a couple of years ago), I increased my dose.
- I’m currently taking three 500 mg capsules of NMN, for a total of 1500 mg/day. This may be overkill, but speaking unscientifically and anecdotally for a moment, I like how it feels to take that much.
Good Brands of NMN?
There are lots of good brands (and some very bad ones); I’ve bought NMN from ProHealth, Alive by Science and DoNotAge’s in the past, and all were good products. I’m currently taking the product from DoNotAge’. Like several other companies, DoNotAge sources their NMN from Uthever, a very reputable brand.
When pricing NMN and other products, be sure to calculate the actual price per gram, not just the price per capsule. (And remember, powders always cost less per gram than capsules), At the moment, DoNotAge’s NMN is the lowest price that I’m aware of for a product that I know to be genuine (if you buy it as powder), particularly when I figure in their 10% discount.
So at the moment I’m now 69, and am taking 1.5 grams/day. I take 0.5 grams sublingually, and take the rest stirred into some green juice.
