Hypertension, or abnormally elevated blood pressure, affects as many as 1.39 billion adults worldwide, leading to the deaths of approximately 8.5 million people annually due to related complications.
Declining NAD+ levels, a typical outcome of aging, have been linked to age-related cardiovascular health issues in the past. However, no clinical human trials have reported on the intricacies of the relationship between NAD+ and elevated blood pressure until now.
Researchers in this exciting study went more in-depth than any other had before. They demonstrated that supplementing with NMN, the preeminent NAD+ precursor, significantly reduced blood pressure in people with hypertension.
For individuals suffering from elevated blood pressure resulting from hypertension, this breakthrough study suggests NMN supplementation could be a real game changer.
In this article, we’ll give you all the inside information on what these leading researchers learned about NMN supplementation, NAD+ levels, and the connection to blood pressure and cardiovascular health.
Table of Contents
- NMN Supplementation Reduced Blood Pressure in Hypertension Patients
- Shining A Spotlight On the Connection Between NAD+ and Hypertension
- Researchers Established a Correlation Between NAD+ and Hypertension
- Studies on Lab Mice Further Support Findings of Human Studies
- The Upregulation Of An NAD+ Inhibiting Enzyme May Be To Blame
- A Synopsis of What This Breakthrough Study Concluded
- NMN Supplementation Shows Positive Impact on Blood Pressure—Conclusions
NMN Supplementation Reduced Blood Pressure in Hypertension Patients
The study performed by medical researchers associated with The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yaten University in Guangzhou, China, sought to determine whether NMN supplementation could have a therapeutic effect on a group of patients aged 18-80 with hypertension.
They recruited 19 participants, who were asked to implement lifestyle changes, including a low-salt, high-fiber diet and engagement in aerobic activities four days a week.
Of the 19 participants, 9 were also given 800mg per day of NMN supplementation. At the same time, the remaining 10 only partook in said lifestyle changes.
After 6 weeks, blood pressure parameters were measured, and researchers noticed that those who had used the NMN supplementation experienced a remarkable decline in systolic blood pressure.
This measure is a key marker of hypertension.
Leading researchers noted:
“Our results showed a beneficial effect of NMN on BP [blood pressure] and vascular function.”
And while that revelation alone would be more than enough for this study to gain notoriety, researchers weren’t satisfied with it. They wanted to examine how much NAD+ decline affects cardiovascular health, and that’s precisely what they did.
Shining A Spotlight On the Connection Between NAD+ and Hypertension
As mentioned above, hypertension is a major public health issue, one that becomes increasingly more likely to affect us as we age.
However, there are other risk factors, such as family history, unhealthy body composition, poor diet, alcohol or tobacco use, and chronic stress.
Hypertension is characterized by blood vessel constriction and arterial stiffness, which can induce dangerous rises in blood pressure.
Many negative health outcomes are associated with hypertension, including:
- Heart Issues
- Kidney Damage
- Vision Degradation
- Cognitive Problems
- Stroke
- Aneurysms
Traditionally, medical professionals have recommended a combination of pharmaceuticals and lifestyle changes, such as increased exercise, dietary restrictions, and limits on alcohol and tobacco use, as therapeutic means for hypertension.
However, this study has opened the eyes of cardiologists and hypertension experts globally to the idea that NMN supplementation could be a novel option for hypertension reduction with no known negative side effects.
But why exactly are they reaching these conclusions?
Let’s discuss the particulars.
Researchers Established a Correlation Between NAD+ and Hypertension
To study NAD+ levels, researchers took samples of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), a kind of white blood cell that exists in the human bloodstream, from both healthy individuals and those suffering from hypertension.
After securing these samples, the research team used high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, an advanced technological system for measuring the contents of complex chemical compositions, to test for NAD+ levels.
This comprehensive test determined that cells taken from hypertension patients had 44% less NAD+ than cells of non-hypertension patients.
But again, this wasn’t enough data for these researchers, so they drew tissue samples from participants’ aortas as well. As you may know, the aorta is the largest and most important blood vessel in the human body.
They found that individuals with hypertension had 47.4% less NAD+ in their aortic tissue than individuals not experiencing hypertension.
Further examination by the researchers also established that hypertension patients showed reduced blood flow capacity and vascular damage.
When all the information was laid out plainly, researchers said:
“These results suggested that decreased NAD+ levels may be involved in the modulation of hypertension and vascular dysfunction.”
These human tests underscored the hypothesis that NAD+ levels in multiple types of human cells can be indicative of overall cardiovascular health.
Additionally, researchers noted that NMN supplementation could effectively increase NAD+ levels in human blood cells by approximately 43%.
Studies on Lab Mice Further Support Findings of Human Studies
Suffice it to say that these scientists were leaving no stone unturned. So, to corroborate their findings in human studies, they replicated those tests, this time on mice.
After inducing hypertension in lab mice, researchers performed aortic biopsies on the subjects.
And guess what?
They determined that the hypertensive mice showed a 43.7% reduction in aortic NAD+ levels, accompanied by some severe blood flow issues.
The next step in the animal portion of this study was to see how these mice would react to NMN supplementation. So, scientists fed the subjects an NMN supplement for 28 days.
They found that the hypertensive mice exhibited significantly reduced blood pressure and a sizeable increase in aortic NAD+ levels, along with enhanced blood flow metrics.
Researchers concluded this section of the study by stating:
“Taken together, these findings further confirmed that arterial NAD+ levels were essential for controlling BP [blood pressure] and vascular function in hypertension.”
Having demonstrated that lowered NAD+ levels play a pivotal role in blood pressure for humans and mice, the researchers wanted to look closely at the biomechanics of it all.
In the next section, we’ll take a closer look at what they found.
The Upregulation Of An NAD+ Inhibiting Enzyme May Be To Blame
NAD+ levels are dictated by the delicate balance of biosynthesis and degeneration, creating either a net positive or negative in NAD+ levels.
The general consensus and the results of this study suggest that as NAD+ levels decline, many health issues arise, and as NAD+ levels increase, many health issues abate.
However, why exactly is that the case?
To answer that question, researchers looked at both human and mouse endothelial cells to measure the concentration of enzymes involved in the modulation of NAD+.
They honed in on one particular enzyme known as CD38. Researchers noted that aortic cells in hypertensive humans repeatedly demonstrated increased levels of CD38, and the same was true in animal samples.
Through a series of complex experiments, researchers determined that by inhibiting CD38 upregulation, they could effectively enhance NAD+ levels in both human and mouse endothelial cells.
A separate animal study published in the Journal of Neurochemistry concluded that supplementing mice with NAD+ precursors effectively reduced CD38 concentrations in brain cells, leading to lessened inflammation and lowered degeneration in those cells.
In completing this wing of the study, researchers stated:
“The mRNA and protein levels of CD38, a rate-limiting NAD+ degradation enzyme, were significantly upregulated in human hypertensive aortas.”
Future studies will likely dive deeper into this facet of the complex relationship between NAD+ and hypertension.
However, this study and others indicate that using an NAD+ precursor such as NMN supplementation may inhibit the synthesis of enzymes like CD38, which can reduce bioavailable NAD+ levels.
A Synopsis of What This Breakthrough Study Concluded
This study was conducted by leading experts in the field of cardiovascular health, including Jun Tao, Chief of the Department of Hypertension and Vascular Disease, at the First Affiliated Hospital at Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, China.
Sun Yat-Sen University was the first university in China to begin studying Western therapeutic practices (in 1866) and continues to be a well-respected medical research center today. It’s considered one of the most prestigious universities in not just China but all of Asia.
Researchers affiliated with the university regularly publish their study findings in world-renowned medical journals.
In this study, Jun Tao and his team concluded:
- Individuals suffering from hypertension demonstrated substantially reduced blood pressure after orally ingesting 800 mg of NMN supplementation daily for 6 weeks.
- Hypertensive humans have significantly reduced levels of NAD+ in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and aortic tissue.
- Supplementing with NMN can increase NAD+ levels in human blood cells by approximately 43%.
- Humans with hypertension show upregulation of the NAD+ inhibitor enzyme CD38 in endothelial cells.
- NMN supplementation could help to mitigate the upregulation of CD38, a potential reason why it can support NAD+ homeostasis.
These are the “highlights” we can take away from this landmark study, which has increased the credibility of the idea that NMN supplementation and the subsequent promotion of NAD+ levels could help mitigate the incidence of hypertension and its negative outcomes.
This clinical trial is the first study in human history to provide human trial data suggesting NMN reduces blood pressure in hypertensive patients.
Furthermore, it’s the only study that has demonstrated how declining NAD+ levels may be at least partially responsible for the onset of hypertension.
Lastly, the insight that NMN supplementation stimulates NAD+ biosynthesis in human blood cells (which has been shown in other studies) further supports the potential therapeutic legitimacy of the NAD+ precursor.
NMN Supplementation Shows Positive Impact on Blood Pressure—Conclusions
Every year, the science behind NMN supplementation and NAD+ biosynthesis points in one direction. That direction is that NAD+ levels are positively correlated with the biological aging of cells.
It appears that when NAD+ levels are adequate, human cells quite literally age slower, and when NAD+ levels decline, human cells age faster.
As the studies mount, the evidence becomes more apparent.
The study discussed here showed NMN supplementation can have a positive impact on hypertension by supporting reduced blood pressure.
According to the National Institute on Aging, the chances of experiencing elevated blood pressure rise with age.
Therefore, it would stand to reason that this is just one more of the many anti-aging benefits that NMN supplementation and NAD+ homeostasis can supply us.