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Tru Niagen Reviews: Can this supplement transform your health?

Could your NAD use a boost? Is Tru Niagen safe and legit? We tested this ChromaDex supplement and pored over the research to help you decide if you should give it a try

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Table of Contents

Our Finding

Rating:
4.6/5

4.8/5

Tru Niagen benefits multiple body systems with a single pill containing one active ingredient. This helps simplify your supplement stack and lowers your risk of adverse effects. The FDA acknowledges its safety, and many clinical studies show its efficacy.

Pros

Cons

As we get older, many things happen to us – some of them good, others not so good. Tru Niagen offers a supplement that studies suggest can improve how we maintain good health throughout aging. Though we need more research and more human studies to draw firmer conclusions, Tru Niagen might help us fend off certain biological conditions associated with a higher risk of diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease, among others.

Is it a safe and effective supplement, and is it right for you? Here’s what we found.

How we evaluated Tru Niagen

Effectiveness

Rating: 9.1 / 10

Research into Tru Niagen and its primary ingredient nicotinamide riboside (NR) is ongoing. Still, the research that exists is extremely promising. It shows time and again an increase in nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) among a majority of participants that far exceeds numbers in the placebo group. Eight weeks of NR supplementation at the Tru Niagen dose can boost NAD by over 50%. Research into what an abundance of NAD can do for the body indicates many potential anti-aging benefits.

Cost

Rating: 8.3 / 10

Tru Niagen isn’t particularly cheap, but it’s less expensive than some of its most intense competition. It’s also not too far outside the price range of comparable supplements aimed at other systems. It loses a bit of clout when you realize that NR is just a specific form of vitamin B and that vitamin supplements can often cost less than Tru Niagen. But compounding Tru Niagen is a process that differs from those that create other vitamins.

Safety

Rating: 8.9 / 10

Tru Niagen comes in a 300 mg dose. Several studies have looked at NR in doses between 1,000 and 2,000 mg. In those studies, side effects were rare and mild. Experiences of bloating, upset stomach, or flushing were at the top of a short list. There is evidence that certain nicotinamide strains and an overabundance of NAD can contribute to specific cancer risks. Still, those studies are too small and too few to impact our consideration at this time.

Customer Service

Rating: 8.8 / 10

Neither Tru Niagen nor its competitors offer a trial period, and their return policies aren’t great. Once you open the product, you own it – regardless of whether it works for you. That said, actually interacting with the customer support staff at Tru Niagen is a pleasant experience. Their live chat is rarely busy, and the people on the other end are well informed and courteous. Add free shipping on all orders to the picture, and you’ll see why we rate Tru Niagen so highly in this respect.

 

Why you should trust us

Over the past two decades, Innerbody Research has helped tens of millions of readers make more informed decisions involving staying healthy and living healthier lifestyles.

We extensively test each health product and service we review. We try our best to give you, our readers, unbiased exploration of at-home health services, free of marketing jargon or gimmicks. We base our evaluations on adherence to quality, the latest medical evidence and health standards, and a simple question: would we buy the product or service ourselves if it weren’t part of our job, and would we recommend it to family and friends?

Additionally, like all health-related content on this website, this review of Tru Niagen was thoroughly vetted by one or more members of our Medical Review Board for accuracy.

Video review summary and unboxing

For those in a hurry, here’s a concise video describing our findings as well as showing you what you’ll receive in the mail if you order Tru Niagen.

Play Video

Want to learn more about the science behind NR supplementation and this particular company and its products? You’ve come to the right place – let’s dive in.

 

What is NAD?

NAD stands for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide. For the record, and despite its name, nicotinamide is unrelated to nicotine, tobacco’s addictive and deadly constituent.

NAD is a coenzyme, a compound necessary for certain enzymes to function. In particular, it acts as a coenzyme for various mitochondrial enzymes, providing energy to your body’s cells.

Research indicates that NAD plays vitally essential roles in:

  • Metabolism
  • Cellular defense against damage
  • DNA repair
  • Achieving and maintaining good sleep patterns
 

Scientists identified NAD over a century ago, but it continues to be the subject of study. In 2004, Dr. Charles Brenner (then at Dartmouth College but now the chief science advisor for Tru Niagen) discovered how a substance called nicotinamide riboside (NR) can stimulate an increase of NAD in the body.

As scientists have conducted more and more studies, they’ve discovered numerous very intriguing things about NAD, including:

  1. NAD seems to play a fundamental role in our cellular health. It is linked to our cells’ capacity to produce energy and repair themselves.

  2. Your body’s production of NAD slows down considerably as you age. Human tissue studies demonstrate that our NAD levels decrease by as much as 50% from age 40 to 60.

  3. Lifestyle matters also. Stressors and certain lifestyle choices (like maintaining an unhealthy diet and drinking alcohol, for instance) can also deplete your body’s supply of NAD.

If this sounds to you like NAD is a potentially important puzzle piece in our understanding of how our health can naturally decline as part of the aging process and our lifestyle decisions, then you’re not alone. If our bodies naturally stop producing enough NAD as we age, then our energy production at the cellular level declines, meaning we don’t feel the same vigor we used to feel. We’d feel less healthy. And it goes beyond how we feel; the ability of our cells to repair themselves is fundamental to health and wellbeing.

What is nicotinamide riboside (NR)?

We’re all probably familiar with niacin, a B-vitamin that you can find on the nutrition labels of bread, cereals, and other products at the grocery store. But nicotinamide riboside?

Nicotinamide riboside (or NR) is just a different form of vitamin B3 than niacin. You could find small amounts of NR naturally in products like milk. NR is also known as Niagen, a name patented by the company in focus here: Tru Niagen. But NR isn’t found in large amounts naturally.

Multiple studies show that when participants take a supplement containing a large enough quantity of NR, their bodies then produce an increased amount of NAD. Tru Niagen’s 300mg dose should be enough for most people to see an increase in NAD, but with some studies utilizing 1,000mg doses, there is evidence that 300mg might not be enough for everyone.

Tru Niagen even offers a 500mg supplement called Tru Niagen Pro, but you can’t buy it directly from the company unless you’re a healthcare provider. You don’t need a prescription to obtain Tru Niagen Pro, but it would be wise to have regular check-ins with a physician if you decide to take anything more than 300mg.

Is Tru Niagen a reputable company?

Niagen is the flagship ingredient of Tru Niagen’s parent company, ChromaDex, a nutraceutical company focused on the research and development of products that improve how we age. ChromaDex scientists are working hard on numerous studies with universities and researchers to understand what NAD does within our bodies. Along the way, ChromaDex is cataloging and providing reference materials on nearly 2,000 phytochemicals thus far, with the list continuing to grow.

In addition to Dr. Brenner (who discovered the pathway for NR to stimulate NAD production), the company relies on a board of distinguished scientists to advise the company on the safety of their product and on necessary studies to conduct. The board includes:

  • Not just one but two Nobel Prize winners in Chemistry
  • Leading authorities in Alzheimer’s and breast cancer research
  • Two nutritional experts

This is a pretty impressive gathering of recognized experts in their fields. Some peers have criticized these kinds of advisory boards as ‘window dressing.’ Still, in our opinion, the participation and advice of experts speak to the high level of interest and seriousness with which the broader scientific community regards the potential for NR supplementation and research to improve our wellbeing. It also reflects well on a company dedicated to validating the merits of their product and conducting rigorous studies.

Tru Niagen has over 20 licensed patents and collaborations in over a hundred studies of NR and NAD. There have been five clinical studies published so far.

Tru Niagen pricing and quantities

Tru Niagen used to arrange their purchasing quantities by the number of people in your household that would take it. But that model could be confusing, and one could imagine a particularly lonesome person feeling all the more lonely when selecting a shipment for one. Their current system is both kinder and easier to understand.

Recurring shipments save you 15-30%, with the most savings coming with the largest shipments. You can schedule shipments to occur every one, two, three, four, five, or six months.

Tru-Niagen offers three options for their suggested 300mg/day dosage:

  • 300mg capsule
  • 150mg capsules (two capsules per serving)
  • 300mg stickpack of flavorless powder

The company also offers Tru Niagen Pro, a product containing 500mg NR per capsule available exclusively through healthcare practitioners.

300mg capsules

Here’s how Tru Niagen’s 300mg capsule pricing works out with different quantities on a subscription and non-subscription basis:

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