Nicotinamide Mononucleotide (NMN) has become a major research focus in the field of aging science. During the aging process, many body functions may get weaker slowly. One key change here is the level of NAD+ (Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide).
It is an important molecule for cell energy use. It takes part in many processes like glycolysis, the tricarboxylic acid cycle and mitochondrial respiration. But its level usually drops as people get older.
So, many studies have started to focus on “how to make more NAD+ in the body”. They hope to find ways to slow down aging-related body function decline. Nicotinamide mononucleotide is one of the hot research topics.
In January 2025, a study on Nicotinamide Mononucleotide and mice came out in The Journal of Nutrition. Researchers gave middle-aged C57/BL6 mice on a high-fat diet 400 mg/kg body weight of Nicotinamide Mononucleotide in their drinking water. They watched the mice for 7 months.
The test results show Nicotinamide Mononucleotide seems to have good effects on the mice’s bodies in many ways:
1、It helps with obesity problems and slows down body function decline.
Tests found that after 4 months of Nicotinamide Mononucleotide intake, the high-fat diet mice started to lose weight. Researchers used magnetic resonance imaging to check the mice’s body composition. They found the total body fat and liver fat of these mice also went down. At the same time, the levels of aging and inflammation markers in the mice’s bodies dropped too. This means Nicotinamide Mononucleotide may help slow down body function decline caused by age and high-fat diets.
2、It may improve energy use and make the mice move more.
Mice on a long-term high-fat diet often have energy use problems and move less. The mice given Nicotinamide Mononucleotide moved much more during the dark period than those only on a high-fat diet. This shows Nicotinamide Mononucleotide may help fix energy use problems and low activity levels caused by high-fat diets.
3、It may have good effects on blood sugar and blood fat control.
Researchers did an oral glucose tolerance test. They found the high-fat diet mice taking Nicotinamide Mononucleotide for a long time could handle glucose better. They also checked blood fat levels. The high levels of triglycerides (TG) and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol caused by the high-fat diet went down. The total cholesterol (TC) level also got a little better. This may help keep the body’s metabolism healthy.
4、It may ease tissue damage in body parts.
Researchers checked the mice’s organ tissues for damage.In fat tissue, the high-fat diet mice had much bigger, irregular fat cells. These cells also had more lipid droplet vacuoles inside. The mice given Nicotinamide Mononucleotide had smaller fat cell cross-sections. Their fat cells were also arranged more neatly.
In kidney tissue, NMN intake seemed to ease glomerular atrophy and renal tubulointerstitial inflammatory cell infiltration caused by high-fat diets. It may also reduce kidney fibrosis. These changes may help protect kidney function.
5、It may help improve skeletal muscle function
The high-fat diet mice had weaker muscle strength and worse coordination. The mice taking NMN for a long time had much better skeletal muscle function.
Researchers did Hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) staining on the mice’s gastrocnemius muscle. They found the NMN group had bigger and more tightly arranged muscle fiber cross-sections. These signs show NMN may help improve skeletal muscle function.
6、Its working principle may be linked to activating certain enzymes.
Further studies found NMN may first raise NAD+ levels in the mice’s blood. Higher NAD+ levels may then activate two enzymes related to cell health — SIRT1 and SIRT3. Both are NAD+-dependent deacetylases.Western blot analysis showed NMN intake boosted the expression or activity of SIRT1 and SIRT3 in peripheral organs like fat tissue, skeletal muscle and kidneys. This may be one key way NMN works to bring all the above good effects.
We need to note that this study only used mice. We need more follow-up studies to check if the results can be used for humans directly.
Regarding Ferbio
Ferbio promotes the intelligentization of bioreactors, builds a large-scale bioreaction model and an end-to-end platform for synthetic biology from “strains to industrial production”, constructs a precise fermentation big data cloud, gathers massive reaction data, and conducts real-time monitoring, analysis and prediction of fermentation parameters and substance changes, enhancing the efficiency and accuracy of synthetic biology research and development, and promoting the intelligent, efficient and sustainable development of the bioindustry.