NutraCast: Healthy aging breakthroughs: ChromaDex's 25-year journey

The discussion delved into the fascinating world of cellular function, repair and longevity, exploring the relationship between telomeres, NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) and healthy aging. Fried highlighted the initial excitement around resveratrol and how it ultimately led to a wave of research into the role of NAD.

"Resveratrol did not turn out to be what people thought it was," he said. "However, an industry had been launched."

He explained that while resveratrol was not as effective as initially believed, it led to the discovery of the importance of NAD in activating genes for health benefits. Combining resveratrol with an NAD booster seemed effective at first, but the NAD booster alone proved to be more beneficial. Boosting NAD levels not only activates specific genes related to aging and longevity but also benefits overall mitochondrial function and cell repair mechanisms.

"And then there were many studies just on NAD itself, revealing that all conditions, it seems, related to aging, all age-related conditions, disease or otherwise, seem to also be associated with a decline in NAD," Fried explained. "So this is fascinating, the direct relationship between NAD levels and the way the cells age."

The benefits and challenges of NR and nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) as NAD precursors were also explored, with Fried explaining why Chromadex is working toward drug applications for NR.

"The applications there transcend the limited claims that one can make under DSHEA in dietary supplements, the structure/function claims, and they're actually disease-related therapeutic benefits that we think should be made so that people understand," he said. "So we felt it was actually a responsibility for us to pursue those further, even though we weren't obviously initially constructed to be a pharma company."

To hear more on the strategy behind the pharma route, the science and history of the healthy aging category, as well as the challenges of selling NMN products on Amazon, listen to the NutraCast.

If you enjoy listening to the NutraCast, feel free to leave a review. You can subscribe on Apple​, iHeart​, Spotify​ or wherever you get your podcasts.