Age-related lost sense of smell restored via NR supplementation

What's the news: Supplementation with nicotinamide riboside improved sense of smell and longevity in aged mice.

Why should we believe it: This news comes from a study published last month, February 2023, by scientists working at National Institute on Aging, within the National Institutes of Health.

Why this is a big deal: Sense of smell grows worse with age. A loss of sense of smell is also an early symptom of neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. At that same time, levels of the cellular coenzye NAD+ decreases in our bodies with age, and this decrease of NAD+ is one reason that the olfactory bulb — our smelling apparatus — becomes damaged and works less well with age.

The present study supplemented mice with nicotinamide riboside — an NAD+ precursor — and found:

1. Supplementing with NR for 8 weeks partially restored the lost sense of smell in these aged mice

2. Increased longevity — mice supplemented with NR survived significantly longer

So what does this mean for you? NR supplementation improved the sense of smell in these aged mice, but this is probably just one very visible (smellable?) improvement. When levels of NAD+ go up, there are likely to be many other benefits in the brain, and throughout the body as well.

Your Long Youthspan editor isn’t in the habit of suggesting longevity treatments based on the latest mouse research alone. However, the present study is just another pebble in the growing hill of evidence about the benefits of supplementing with NAD+ in humans as well as mice. In other words, if you're not supplementing with NAD+ or one of its precursors, it might be time to consider it.