NAD
Energy Supplement Review NAD as
an energy supplement review by internationally acclaimed scientists,
medical professionals and others highlighting the relevancy of NAD
Energy Supplementation and therapy in fatigue related and other
disorders. Is
NAD a “One-Size Fits All Approach?” – The
“Lack of Energy Epidemic”
Dr Ian Hyams MD.
Dr Ian
Hyams, a specialist in fatigue disorders and former assistant clinical
director of the Essex Neuroscience Unit has voiced his concern
regarding the rapidly increasing prevalence of chronic fatigue in
adults and children. Fatigue is central to many medical conditions
including chronic fatigue syndrome, depression, fibromyalgia, attention
deficit disorder, cancer, thyroid and sex hormone deficiencies, asthma,
diabetes, stress/burnout and others. Astonishing
news hit the headlines recently that in excess of 50 000 prescriptions
for antidepressants have been written out by GPs for children in the
UK, medication that is not really indicated for paediatric usage.
Are
children battling to cope with life due to the stressors of modern day
society? Are children placed under too much pressure to perform? Are
children eating properly or has the mega junk food industry taken over
and influenced eating habits, causing a sudden surge in mental and
physical health problems? Are we facing an epidemic of fatigue
disorders, where antidepressants are the most frequently selected
"cop-out" medications chosen to deal with these problems?
There is
a dire need for medical professionals to understand the basics of
energy biochemistry and not to immediately opt for an antidepressant or
a stimulant as a "quick fix" in our drug orientated world. A basic
understanding of good nutrition, optimal lifestyle management, the
mitochondria as the most important structure in the body responsible
for energy production, Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD)-the
energy "currency" of the cell and free radicals and their affect on
damaging mitochondria in ageing adults, can constructively help doctors
to fight fatigue and improve quality of life and the productivity of
individuals. 10% of
the population is born with inherited difficulties in metabolising NAD
for energy production, despite excellent nutrition. Then we have
acquired deficiencies of NAD due to poor diet and toxicities. Could
this account for the high incidence of antidepressant prescriptions?
Are we missing the plot and not identifying sufferers of Energy
Metabolic Deficiency, a newly described common biological pathway,
where thousands of young and old patients alike could enjoy a
tremendously improved quality of life, through a simple intervention of
prescribing more energy fuel or NAD? Alkogen,
a research group in South Africa, has recently defined Energy Metabolic
Deficiency as "a physical state that develops when the body does not
have enough metabolic energy at the cellular level to maintain the body
in a constant state of health". The development of ongoing research
linking mitochondrial malfunction and the development of over a hundred
well recognised disease states, stems from some of the pioneering
research done by Spies et.al linking NAD deficiency to diabetes,
Hoffner et.al linking NAD deficiency to schizophrenia and Birkmayer
et.al linking NAD deficiency to chronic fatigue syndrome, depression
and Parkinson's disease. This is
certainly an exciting field of metabolic medicine that could
revolutionise the outcome of many illnesses and slow down premature
ageing. Furthermore, the challenge remains for modern day medicine to
go back to basics and treat causes of disease rather than practising
superficial medicine, where poly-pharmacology is relied on to treat a
multitude of symptoms in ageing adults. Is
NAD A "One-Size Fits All Approach"?
Critics
may proclaim that it is impossible to discover a single drug or
supplement that could benefit such a diverse number of medical
conditions. According to the standard pharmaceutical paradigm, a drug
is designed to carry out a specific action to modify a disease state
and bring symptoms under control. In the case of NAD, mitochondrial
energy inefficiency is the common biological pathway influencing many
clinical conditions including optimal muscle physiology, satisfactory
digestion and assimilation of food, optimal brain function and mood
control and many more physiological processes in the body. Multiplicity
of symptoms and a large list of potential diagnoses should not imply
that the condition is not caused or exacerbated by a single deficiency.
Assuming
we all agree that NAD plays a pivotal role in useful energy production
in the body, the next question is whether one dosage suits all?
The
logical response to this is definitely No; we are all uniquely
different. One diabetic patient's insulin requirements would be
completely different to another patients. In the same way NAD treatment
must be individualised. By assessing the pyruvate/lactate ratio the
individual deficiency of NAD and inefficiency of mitochondrial function
can be measured. Naturally these values can be monitored while patients
pursue treatment and also reveal when optimal NAD levels have been
reached. Most
reputable laboratories are able to carry out lactate and pyruvate blood
test measurements, and these values are used to calculate energy block
values and corresponding NAD and other coenzyme requirements.
Dr Ian
Hyams MD
(Dr
Hyams is a family physician with a special interest in fatigue/pain
disorders. He qualified in South Africa and headed up a
multidisciplinary team specialising in the management of Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia. Dr Hyams acted as chairman of the
National Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Research Foundation for several
years in South Africa and he was also elected as chairman of the ME
Association of South Africa.)
“It
(NAD Therapy) will mark the retirement of the present psychiatric
paradigm”
Dr Abram Hoffer
I
congratulate Theo Verwey and his colleagues for this remarkable advance
in using this concept and in using a simple test, the ratio of pyruvate
to lactate as a diagnostic measure, to indicate the dose, duration of
treatment etc. I realise that he has made a very complete review of the
literature. For instance, not many know about our 1960 studies with
oral NAD. When the
clinical founded Energy Values based on the lactate and pyruvate blood
tests and the NAD Therapy protocols outlined in the NAD Therapy! Too
Good to be True?, e-book, are empirically confirmed there will be an
enormous change in modern psychiatry. It will mark the retirement of
the present psychiatric paradigm which can be best described as a
system which uses' descriptive diagnostic terms which have no causal or
treatment relevance. The new
system will depend upon laboratory tests to determine where the error
in the metabolism of the body lies and will indicate which nutrients
should be used to correct that error. Psychiatry has always been forced
to deal with and to treat diseases for which there has been no known
cause and for whom there has been no adequate treatment.
Thus, in
1900 the differential diagnoses of the major psychoses included
dementia praecox, scurvy, pellagra and tertiary syphilis of the brain.
But as soon as the cause and the correct treatment were discovered,
these diseases were removed from the field of psychiatry and taken over
by general medicine. The finding that vitamin B3 cured pellagra
eradicated this disease in most high technical societies. The same for
scurvy. Penicillin removed the syphilis patients from psychiatric care.
Dementia
praecox remained and was renamed schizophrenia. This has still remained
the province of the psychiatrists but with the work described in this
book and so much other work shows that schizophrenia will also be taken
over by the rest of medicine. The newer work on the important role on
the essential fatty acids, omega three especially lead by Dr. David
Horrobin, the work we did over so many years with the megavitamin
approach make this prophecy a certainty. Dr Abram
Hoffer
(MD
PhD FRCP. Dr. Hoffer has been honoured by the Institute for Functional
Medicine as one of the top 5 pioneers of new medicine for the 21st
Century. Dr. Hoffer is the author of approximately 500 papers in
medical journals, and the author, co-author and contributor to many
books.)
NAD
Energy supplement review – a prescribers experience
Dr
Petrus Retief
The
chemical imbalance develops due to a NAD Deficiency and immediately
when you administer the NAD you normalise the chemical imbalance. They
(patients) immediately feel emotionally better, they sleep better, they
are more positive and their normal thought processes occur easier and
better.
Dr Petrus Retief
(MBChB
- General Practitioner)
”It
is the concept of NAD as a medicine, which must not be
ignored”
Prof. John P Cleary
“The
potential of NAD and niacin therapy to treat diseases is now going
forward in South Africa. Theo Verwey and his group of clinicians are
now the future of this movement to reform medical therapeutics. It is
the concept of NAD as a medicine, which must not be ignored: the needed
research must be allowed, encouraged, the results evaluated,
acknowledge and passed on to the young physicians of today.”
Prof.
John P Cleary
(Prof.
John P Cleary, Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine, 2003)
NAD+
and NADH in brain functions, brain diseases and brain ageing.
Numerous
studies have suggested that NAD+ and NADH mediate multiple major
biological processes, including calcium homeostasis, energy metabolism,
mitochondrial functions, cell death and ageing.
In
particular, NAD+ and NADH have emerged as novel, fundamental regulators
of calcium homeostasis. It appears that most of the components in the
metabolic pathways of NAD+ and NADH, including poly (ADP-ribose),
ADP-ribose, cyclic ADP-ribose, O-acetyl-ADP-ribose, nicotinamide and
kynurenine, can produce significant biological effects.
This
exquisiteness of NAD+ and NADH metabolism could epitomise the
exquisiteness of life, through which we may grasp the intrinsic harmony
life has evolved to produce. The exquisiteness also suggests a central
regulatory role of NAD+ and NADH in life. It is
tempted to propose that NAD+ and NADH, together with ATP and Ca2+,
constitute a Central Regulatory Network of life. Increasing evidence
has also suggested that NAD+ and NADH play important roles in multiple
biological processes in brains, such as neurotransmission and learning
and memory. NAD+ and
NADH may also mediate brain ageing and the tissue damage in various
brain illnesses. Our latest studies have suggested that NADH can be
transported across the plasma membranes of astrocytes, and that NAD+
administration can markedly decrease ischemic brain injury.
Based on
this information, it is proposed that NAD+ and NADH are fundamental
mediators of brain functions, brain senescence and multiple brain
diseases. Because numerous properties of NAD+ and NADH remain unclear,
future studies regarding NAD+ and NADH may expose some fundamental
mechanisms underlying brain functions, brain pathologies and brain
ageing. (Ying
W. (2007) NAD+ and NADH in brain functions, brain diseases and brain
ageing. Front Biosci. 2007 Jan 1;12:1863-88. Department of
Neurology, University of California at San Francisco and San Francisco
Veterans Affairs Medical Centre, San Francisco, CA 94121, USA.)
Drink
a Glass of Energy - NAD Energy supplement review
Dr Charl
Stevens Some
people are completely unconcerned about their age. They will also
readily say that they do not know how old they are. They have a
youthful attitude towards life and also possess the obvious lust for
life, which much younger people have. I think that it is safe to say,
that all of them simply continue to grow. They are set in the
conviction, that they are as old as they feel.
All of
us know such people and one sometimes wonder why there are so many days
of depression and fatigue, which destroy your dreams of feeling
youthful. Your dreams changed into deceit. Depression then is
mercifully a suitable diagnosis. A little pill will hopefully help.
Thoughts
have a very great effect on your health. On the other hand, it is also
true that there must be stability in your body, at the cellular and
biochemical level, in order to be able to be of healthy mind. As long
as there are no stable bodily processes, dreams will always be
deceitful. There can be no predictability or confidence, without stable
bodily processes. People, who lack this stability, are often trapped in
an addiction to a chemical substance, money, relationships and/or food.
If the body is not stable, it is very difficult to live with yourself.
There is
a particular area of instability in the biochemistry of our bodies,
which contributes to problems with memory, irritability, problems with
concentration, depression, a decrease in mental energy, anxiety,
chronic fatigue and a craving for alcohol, nicotine and sugar. This
condition is a deficiency in nicotineamide-adenine-dinucletide (NAD).
We refer in this instance to a metabolic energy deficiency!
You read
correctly: We are dealing here with a measurable energy deficiency.
Most of the symptoms, which are referred to in the above-mentioned, are
merely masks which hide the actual problem. Behind these masks there is
most probably a genetic defect - and you can definitely do something
about it. All
human activities require energy. Each cell in your body has a
particular function and requires energy, to be able to do its job. This
energy is produced by various chemical processes in the cells, in
little "power plants", which exist as small parts in the cell. We refer
to such a power plant as the mitochondrium. Food,
which we consume, is converted into glucose by means of digestion. The
glucose is the fuel in the power generators. Most processes in a power
plant, which releases energy, however require a particular assistant.
We call such an assistant a co-enzyme. Without the co-enzyme, the power
plant will simply not function. NAD is
the coenzyme, which maintains the processes in all power plants. It is
therefore clear, that if there is a deficiency in NAD or if there are
too few power plants in the cells, that there is an energy deficiency.
NAD is also produced by the body on its own, from food.
A
metabolic energy deficiency refers to a deficiency in chemical energy,
with which 10% of all people are burdened. As a result of a genetic
deficiency in mitochondria (power plants), this energy deficiency will
clearly be observed in families, where various masks hide the
deficiency. Grandmother might therefore suffer from obesity, her son
from workaholism, her daughter from depression and her granddaughter
might be a drug addict. The egg
cell of the woman starts with a shortage of power plants. The children
inherit no power plants from their father, because all of his "power
generators" are located in the tail of the sperm cell and the tail is
discarded during conception. The daughter and son will therefore
inherit an energy deficiency, but the son can marry a woman, who has
enough power plants. The problem therefore ends at that stage. The
daughter however spreads the problem. There
are standard laboratory tests, which indicate a metabolic energy
deficiency. A blood sample is taken and lactate and pyruvate blood
tests are used, which are good indicators of the biochemical energy
level. Three NAD Energy Levels and the NAD Energy Block are then
calculated. The NAD Energy Block is then used as basis to
recommend a NutriNAD Energy Protocol. Dr
Charl Stevens
(Dr
Charl Stevens is a biologist and physician, who in his daily practice
is closely involved with the provision of care to the aged. He was
previously the chief scientist at South African Breweries, where his
interest in medicine started. He is an expert on psychoneuro-immunology
and specialises in anti-ageing and treatment of stress, on which he
nationally presents seminars.)
"This is mitochondrial
medicine ... We can fix these (NAD Energy) blockages but they have to be understood
by
competent laboratory work and interpretation... There is nothing
accidental or
random... You go to the biochemical substrates and look at them instead
of
covering it up with drugs... A rational person will not oppose simple
blood and
urine studies for additional study of their case, especially when faced
with
the possibility of being on drugs the rest of their lives. A rational
person
will not feel threatened by this. When I approach physicians and talk
to them,
to partner with them to get the tests I want ordered for a patient, I
rarely
encounter resistance"
Ronald
B Keys, JD. PhD in New York City.
Medical
Consulatant, Psychobiologist and Attorney.
What is
NAD Energy Deficiency?
Research
indicates that 10% of the world population is suffering from a
genetically inherited NAD Energy Deficiency that is transferred from
mother to child at the moment of conception. NAD
Energy Supplements E-Book page
This
free e-book on NAD energy supplements is a must for anyone low in
energy, chronically ill, or just wanting to maximise their health.
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