NAD+_
Also known as NAD, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide
A cellular fuel taken for energy, focus, and anti-aging.
Common vial size is what vendors typically sell, not a recommendation. Enter your own vial in the calculator.
What is NAD+?
Plain language first. The technical label stays, but it never stands alone.Overview
NAD+ is not a peptide but a coenzyme every cell uses to turn food into energy, and levels fall with age. In plain terms: supplementing it is meant to refill your cells' energy currency to fight fatigue and support healthy aging. Injectable NAD+ is compounded, and human evidence is still early.
What it's used for
A cellular fuel people take to fight fatigue and brain fog, sharpen focus, and support anti-aging.
How does NAD+ work?
What it does in the body, and where.NAD+ is a coenzyme, not a peptide. Every cell uses it constantly to turn food into energy, and levels fall substantially with age.
- 01It carries electrons in energy productionWithout enough of it, the machinery that converts food into usable energy slows down.
- 02Repair enzymes depend on itSirtuins and PARPs, involved in DNA repair and cellular housekeeping, consume NAD+ to work. When it is scarce, they compete with energy production for it.
- 03Whether injected NAD+ reaches cells is genuinely unclearThe molecule is large and charged. Much of the research on raising NAD+ uses precursors like NR and NMN precisely because they cross into cells more readily.
- 04Inject slowlyGiven quickly it causes flushing, warmth, chest tightness, and nausea. This is the most consistently reported practical fact about it.
- 05No trial has established a subcutaneous doseThe ranges in circulation come from clinic practice, not from research.
A schematic of the compound's mechanism, not a diagnostic image.
What else is it used for?
Each group carries its own evidence level.Approved means regulators have cleared it for that purpose. Investigational means it is in trials. Early research means it is being studied and is not established.
Raising NAD+ levels
Clinical use- Human trialIn a trial of 65 adults, the precursors roughly doubled NAD+ in the blood within 14 days.
- Human trialIn 133 overweight adults, doses of 100, 300, and 1000 mg raised blood NAD+ by 22%, 51%, and 142% within two weeks.
Whether that actually helps
Early research- Human trialMost human trials have not shown meaningful improvements in body fat, weight, or insulin sensitivity over 3 to 12 weeks.
- Human trialSome small trials reported lower inflammatory markers, and lower blood pressure and artery stiffness in middle-aged and older adults.
- Human trialIn a long-COVID trial it raised NAD+ but did not improve cognition, fatigue, sleep, or mood against placebo.
- Animal studyThe lifespan and organ-benefit claims come from mouse studies.
How much, and do you cycle it?
The range, and whether you take breaks.50 up to 100 mg per dose (start low, increase slowly), 2-3x/week. Commonly given as a course of infusions, then occasional top-upsCommunity practice
Clinics typically run a block of sessions and then space them out. The structure is a clinic convention rather than something a trial arrived at.
How do I dose and price it?
Enter your vial and your dose. Pick a mix. We show the draw and the cost.The vial holds a fixed amount of drug. Adding more water does not make more drug, it just spreads it thinner, so you draw a bigger number on the syringe for the same dose.
Choose your mix
Measuring the water1 mL = one full 100-unit syringe.
Your draw
20 / 100 unitsHow do you store it?
Before mixing, and after.Dry powder in the freezer or fridge. Once mixed, fridge, and use within about a month.
Unmixed lyophilized NAD+ keeps for a long time cold. Once you add water the clock starts: most reconstituted vials hold up for roughly 28 to 30 days at fridge temperature. Keep it out of light, and do not freeze it after mixing.
What are the side effects and cautions?
Known cautions and warnings for this compound.22 July 2026Injectable and IV NAD+ are not FDA-approved for anything. In 2019 the FDA proposed that NAD and NADH should not be allowed as ingredients in pharmacy compounding.
Inject slowly. Going too fast causes flushing, warmth, and nausea. The buffered form stings noticeably less than plain NAD+.
Community notes: what actually helps
What actually helps, according to the people doing it
Nobody's running trials on this. What follows is the folk wisdom that keeps surfacing in Reddit, peptide forums, and the Discord groups, sorted from "probably real" to "someone swears by it." Keep in mind, NONE of this is doctor advice.
The tip that comes up most on r/peptides is to add more water. Mix your vial with 3 or 4mL of bac water instead of 1 to 2mL. Same dose, spread thinner, so your skin reacts less.
- Let it warm to room temperature. Cold stings more.
- Let the alcohol dry fully before the needle goes in.
- Inject slow, over five to ten seconds.
- Move your spot around, at least an inch from last time.
- For a hard lump, warm compress after. For a red itchy welt, ice.
This is where Benadryl and Zyrtec come up constantly on the boards. Most people take one 30 to 60 minutes before the shot if they know they tend to react. Claritin works too. Some skip the pill and use Benadryl cream before, or hydrocortisone cream after. Quercetin gets mentioned a lot as the gentler, natural option.
One heads up you'll also see repeated: taking an allergy pill before every shot can hide a real allergy building underneath. That's why some people don't do it by default.
In the more advanced threads, people keep KPV around and inject it when a reaction flares, and say it clears fast. Others try low-dose naltrexone (LDN) as a longer-term fix, but that's real experimenter territory. And a common reminder on the forums: if your reactions are suddenly bad or started with a new vial, the peptide itself might be the problem, not you.
Redness that spreads past a couple inches, streaks, feels hot, oozes, or comes with a fever means a possible infection. See a doctor. Hives all over, a swollen face or throat, or trouble breathing is a real allergic reaction. Act on that right away.
Who should avoid it
- Pregnancy
- No established contraindications, because it has not been formally studied for them
Stop and get help
- Chest tightness or difficulty breathing during an infusion
- Signs of an allergic reaction
Common effects
- Stinging at the injection site, much stronger with the unbuffered form
- Flushing, nausea, and cramping if given too fast
- Headache
Where this page says nothing is established, that means nobody has studied it, not that a compound is safe.
Is NAD+ approved?
And where the numbers on this page come from.Yes. Approved for clinical use.
Injectable and IV NAD+ are not FDA-approved for anything. In 2019 the FDA proposed that NAD and NADH should not be allowed as ingredients in pharmacy compounding.
- DoseFrom product labeling and clinical guidelines.
- Vial sizeFrom what vendors typically list; not a recommendation.
- Sources
- Reviewed22 July 2026
What else is like NAD+?
Others in Longevity and energy, side by side.If you're weighing NAD+, it's worth reading MOTS-c, Epitalon, and SS-31 (Elamipretide) in the same class.
A cellular fuel taken for energy, focus, and anti-aging.
- Dose
- 50 up to 100 mg per dose (start low, increase slowly)
- How often
- 2-3x/week
A shot people use for energy, metabolism, and healthy aging.
- Dose
- 5 up to 10 mg per week (start low, increase slowly)
- How often
- 1-3x per week
A longevity peptide taken in short courses for sleep and anti-aging.
- Dose
- 5 up to 10 mg per day (start low, increase slowly)
- How often
- 10-20 day courses
A mitochondrial peptide, approved in 2025 for the rare genetic disease Barth syndrome.
- Dose
- 40 mg per day
- How often
- Daily
10What these words mean
Show glossary +
What these words mean
- Titrate
- Starting at a low dose and increasing it slowly over time so your body adjusts and side effects stay mild.
- Subcutaneous
- An injection just under the skin, into the fat layer, usually with a short, thin insulin needle.
- Intramuscular (IM)
- An injection into a muscle, using a longer needle.
- Reconstitution
- Mixing a powdered peptide with liquid (bacteriostatic water) so it can be drawn into a syringe.
- Bacteriostatic water
- Sterile water with a tiny amount of preservative, used to mix powdered peptides.
- Concentration
- How strong the mixed peptide is, in milligrams per milliliter (mg/mL). More water makes it weaker; less water makes it stronger.
- Units (on the syringe)
- The marks on an insulin syringe. 100 units equals 1 mL. They measure how much liquid you draw, not the dose in milligrams.
- mcg and mg
- Units of dose. 1 milligram (mg) equals 1,000 micrograms (mcg).
- GLP-1
- A natural gut hormone that lowers appetite and blood sugar. Drugs that copy it, like semaglutide, are used for weight loss.
- Growth hormone secretagogue
- A compound that nudges your body to release more of its own growth hormone, rather than injecting the hormone itself.
- Half-life
- How long a compound stays active in your body. A longer half-life means you inject less often.
- Peptide vs small molecule
- A peptide is a short chain of amino acids. A few items here (like MK-677 or methylene blue) are small molecules, not true peptides, but people use them the same way.
- Research only
- No approved dose or use in people. Sold for research and not reviewed by the FDA for safety or quality.
- Investigational
- Still being tested in clinical trials and not yet approved or legally sold for general use.
- Banned in drug-tested sport
- Prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA); using it can disqualify a competing athlete.
Sources
- Federal Register, FDA proposed rule on NAD in compounding(2019)FDA proposed rule on NAD in pharmacy compounding.
- Nature Metabolism, NAD+ in human ageing review(2025)Review finding limited efficacy in human trials despite promising preclinical data.
- Nicotinamide riboside randomised trial, Nature Communications, 2018
- Long-COVID randomised trial, Lancet eClinicalMedicine
Last reviewed 22 July 2026