Scott Silveira Discusses NMN & Resveratrol
Scott Silveira is a registered clinical exercise physiologist at the California Health and Longevity Institute, located within the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts in Westlake Village.
This year marks the third year of his PhD studies in health and human performance at Concordia University Chicago. He also has a Master of Science and Bachelor of Science degree in kinesiology and a Master of Arts in theology.
Scott kindly agreed to chat with Paragon Health about NMN and Resveratrol.
Q: Hi Scott. When did you first hear about NMN and Resveratrol? What was it that interested you?
Scott: Resveratrol has been on the block for a long while, but I remember first hearing about NMN when reading Dr. David Sinclair’s book, Lifespan: Why We Age – and Why We Don’t Have To. That book heightened my interest in NMN and renewed my attention to Resveratrol. What interested me is the potential for these supplements to reverse or at least delay the onset of aging but also the potential to increase human performance, especially as we age.
Q: Can you talk about the positive impacts of NMN? Research involving mice is exciting.
Scott: The results in mice are quite remarkable. For instance, we know aerobic exercise improves performance partly by increasing levels of NAD+, which improve mitochondrial function and biogenesis (Uddin et al., 2017). Nicotinamide Mononucleotide (a.k.a. NMN) is a NAD+ precursor molecule that when fed to trained-aged-mice has demonstrated exercise performance gains that were equivalent to youthful-mice (Uddin et al., 2017). Recent animal studies have shown that NAD+ can be increased through NMN supplementation leading to the hypothesis that NMN supplementation might improve exercise performance, especially in NAD+ depleted humans (Uddin et al., 2016).
Q: What about Resveratrol?
Scott: Depending on the type (trans or cis), like NMN, Resveratrol also helps activate sirtuins. Although high quality data is lacking, Resveratrol has been suggested to protect against heart disease, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, aging and inflammation. Some of the mixed results may be due to studies failing to decipher which isomer was being investigated.
Q: Why NMN over other NAD+ precursors like NR?
Scott: While niacin (nicotinic acid) and nicotinamide (NAM) (2 forms of vitamin B3) have been shown to increase NAD+ they may also suppress sirtuin activity. The advantage of using NMN over NR (nicotinamide ribosome - the remaining form of vitamin B3 - also known to increase NAD+ and sirtuins) is that in mice models NMN has demonstrated more favorable outcomes than NR, and NMN appears to follow a more efficient pathway to NAD+ formation.
Q: What do you believe is the best usage for NMN and Resveratrol? Morning dosing together, with food, separately, pre or post workout?
Scott: My guess, would be combining them together in the morning 7-8am and evening 7-8pm when NAD+ levels naturally rise. As for taking with or without food I am not sure, but I've heard Dr David Sinclair share that he takes them with yogurt.
Q: Is it best to start with a low dose and build up to a higher dose?
Scott: I think starting with a low dose and building to a higher dose is wise. I started with 250 mg/d and now I take 1 g/d.
Q: Are there any other supplements you feel are worth adding?
Scott: I think it’s worth adding betaine (trimethylglycine - TMG). In theory, too much NMN can deplete the body of methyl groups. Plus, excess NMN is converted back to NAM. If the NAM is not methylated, then it can interact with sirtuins and suppress them. So as a precaution, I take TMG with NMN.
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