Research into the rejuvenating enzyme
Research in the field of anti-ageing is booming. There are so many new findings! Central to the anti-ageing research is a chemical substance NAD+. This stands for Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide or in simple terms the rejuvenating enzyme. It is a product of vitamin B3.
Your body naturally produces NAD+ by converting vitamin B3. As you get older, though, the amount of NAD+ in your body dramatically drops: at the age of 40 you have just 50% left. And that causes a lot of trouble. There are some things you can do to keep the amount of NAD+ as high as possible and slow down the ageing process or even reverse it! Firstly: take in a sufficient amount of vitamin B3. There are various forms of vitamin B3, one form you may be familiar with is niacinamide: I have added a high concentration of this to my skincare products.
There has been more talk about NMN recently. It stands for Nicotinamide MonoNucleotide. As with niacinamide NMN plays an important part in slowing down the (skin) ageing process by converting into NAD+. There isn’t any point in putting NMN in skincare products because skin won’t absorb it. But there is in your food: then the amount of NAD+ in your body will increase rapidly.
If you want to make sure that you have the optimal amount of NAD+ in your body I have some worthwhile tips.
- Limit alcohol intake. Alcohol quickly breaks down NAD+!
- Have a consistent day and night time routine and limit blue light in the evening. Your NAD+ is a lot lower after a bad night’s sleep!
- Exercise regularly: this will immediately increase the amount of NAD+ in the body’s cells.
- Have a go at yoga or meditation. Research has shown that this ensures the production of NAD+ and sirtuin, a protein involved in combating ageing.
- Eat enough cereals, nuts, fish (such as tuna and salmon) and green vegetables like broccoli, cucumber, avocado and edamame beans. NMN supplements are not yet approved in Europe because not enough is known about their safety yet.
- Intermittent fasting boosts NAD+ levels. Ancient cultures have long since known that intermittent fasting can be beneficial and has also been scientifically recognised. Have a look into this if you are interested in doing it and if necessary seek advice from a dietician because it is not suitable for everyone.
- Use skincare products containing niacinamide. Definitely if you are getting a bit older and for sun exposure. Excessive sunlight breaks down the NAD+ in your skin and to prevent damage it is important that you replenish it.
All the best,
Jetske.
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