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Follow your inflammation through an NAD+ routine.

NAD+ precursors such as NMN and NR raise NAD+ levels in studies. What happens in your inflammation system is a separate question. A blood sample before you start and another after shows which of your six inflammation readings moved, and by how much.

Reserve your spot What you'll see

Every cell runs on NAD+,
and many tissues have less of it with age.

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, or NAD+, is a coenzyme: a helper molecule that enzymes need to do their work.

  • What it does

    Cells use NAD+ to make energy in their mitochondria, to repair DNA, to power enzymes called sirtuins, and to keep their daily rhythms.1

  • How it changes with age

    NAD+ levels fall gradually with age in rodent and human tissues, though the size of the fall varies by tissue and by how it is measured. Researchers point to three likely reasons: more breakdown by the enzyme CD38, more NAD+ used up repairing DNA, and slower recycling through the salvage pathway.1

  • Why people take precursors

    NMN and NR are building blocks the body can turn into NAD+, and both are sold as supplements. Both raise NAD+ levels in studies.1 Raising a level in the blood and changing what immune cells are doing are separate questions.

NMN and NR take different routes
to the same molecule.

  • NMN

    NMNAT1 · NMNAT2 · NMNAT3

    Nicotinamide mononucleotide is turned into NAD+ in one step by enzymes called NMNATs. How well it is absorbed when taken by mouth is still debated.

  • NR

    NMRK1 · NMRK2

    Nicotinamide riboside is first turned into NMN by enzymes called NR kinases, then into NAD+. How much reaches a given tissue depends on how much of those enzymes it makes.

Your report won’t say which precursor is better for you. One person’s samples before and after can show which readings moved, but they can’t show which precursor, or anything else, caused the change.

In research, NAD+ biology
reaches into the inflammation system.

These links come mostly from cell and animal studies. They are the research context for your results, not something a result shows about you.

  • Sirtuins

    SIRT1 · SIRT3 · SIRT6

    Sirtuins are enzymes that need NAD+ to work. In cell studies, SIRT1 removes a chemical tag from part of NF-κB, a master switch for inflammatory genes, and turns down the genes it controls. 2

  • CD38

    CD38

    CD38 is an enzyme on the surface of immune cells that breaks NAD+ down, and it becomes more active when those cells are activated. In mice, rising CD38 activity drives much of the age-related fall in NAD+, and CD38 also breaks down NMN. 1 3

  • Recycling NAD+

    NAMPT

    Cells rebuild most of their NAD+ by recycling it, and NAMPT is the enzyme that sets the pace of that recycling. Lower NAMPT activity has been reported in aging tissues. 1

  • DNA repair

    PARP1

    PARP enzymes use NAD+ to repair breaks in DNA, so heavy DNA damage can drain a cell’s NAD+. Damage that goes unrepaired can set off danger sensors that start an inflammation response. 1

  • Mitochondria

    PPARGC1A · TFAM

    Mitochondria use NAD+ to make energy. When they are damaged, fragments of their DNA and reactive oxygen can leak out, and immune sensors read those fragments as a danger signal. 1

Whether an NAD+ precursor changes gene activity in a person’s blood immune cells hasn’t been established, and the Inflammation Compass doesn’t measure NAD+, sirtuin activity, CD38 or NAMPT. It reads which genes your immune cells are using across 38 pathways, so you can see whether your readings moved after you started.

If a reading does move, that is a change, not a verdict. Lowering inflammation across the board is the wrong goal: the aim is a response that fits the situation and ends when its work is done, which is why your report shows positions against a reference group and never a score to push down.

NAD+ levels and gene activity
measure different things.

A blood NAD+ test measures how much NAD+ is there. The Inflammation Compass measures which genes your immune cells are using. These illustrative examples show how the two can differ.

  • NAD+ above its range, Activation Level above its range

    In this example, both results sit above their reference ranges. Read together, they show NAD+ concentration beside the activity of the alarm signals that start a response.

  • NAD+ within its range, Activation Level above its range

    Here the NAD+ result sits within its laboratory’s reference range, while Activation Level sits above its reference range. Gene activity adds information about the inflammation response beside the NAD+ measurement.

  • NAD+ rises, Resolution Level about the same

    Across repeat samples in this example, NAD+ rises while Resolution Level is marked about the same. Comparing both shows which measurements moved and which stayed about the same.

Follow NAD+ concentration and immune-cell gene activity as separate measurements, and compare how each changes over time.

One sample before you start,
one after, side by side.

The Inflammation Compass reads tens of thousands of genes in your immune cells from one blood sample and reports six readings, 38 pathways and your immune cell mix. We don’t sell supplements, and we never sell your data.

  1. Before you start

    Your first sample starts your personal baseline. Your Bearing shows where each of the six readings sits against a reference group, people whose blood was measured the same way: within its reference range, below it, above it, or at its edge.

  2. After you start

    Your next sample shows which readings moved, by how much, and which stayed about the same. Your Course lays that out reading by reading, from Activation Level and Targeted Defense through Resolution Level and Clean-up & Rebuilding.

  3. Over several samples

    Two samples make a comparison, and three or more begin a trend. Your Map plots your Activation Level against your Resolution Level over time, so you can see the path you’ve taken and where you are now.

See all six readings

Already taking NMN or NR?
It isn't too late.

Your first sample becomes your baseline from that point on. It can’t show what changed before you gave it, so it won’t tell you what the supplement has already done. It will show where you stand now, and later samples will show what moves from here, including after you change, pause or add something.

What it
can't tell you.

The Inflammation Compass shows what changed and by how much. It can’t show why, because many things move these readings, and it doesn’t show whether NMN, NR or any other supplement worked or is safe. It doesn’t measure NAD+, and it doesn’t diagnose, rule out or predict any disease.

One sample is one moment. What a change means is for you, and your clinician if you have one, to weigh.

Start with your baseline.

Give a sample before you start an NAD+ routine, or now if you already have, and compare your six readings at the next one.

$389 per test, or $365 each when you order 4 or more. Mobile phlebotomy and shipping included.

Reserve your spot Longevity and inflammation
Sources and further reading

References

1. Covarrubias AJ, et al. (2021) — NAD+ metabolism and its roles in cellular processes during ageing. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 22(2):119–141. doi:10.1038/s41580-020-00313-x. PMID 33353981.
2. Yeung F, et al. (2004) — Modulation of NF-kappaB-dependent transcription and cell survival by the SIRT1 deacetylase. EMBO J. 23(12):2369–2380. doi:10.1038/sj.emboj.7600244. PMID 15152190.
3. Camacho-Pereira J, et al. (2016) — CD38 dictates age-related NAD decline and mitochondrial dysfunction through an SIRT3-dependent mechanism. Cell Metab. 23(6):1127–1139. doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2016.05.006. PMID 27304511.