
Introduction: Our cells develop disease and premature aging due to every day assaults on our cellular health, such as:
Conventional medicine typically uses drugs and surgery to address these health challenges, however, these are usually not sustainable strategies. Treating symptoms and managing disease is not as valuable as preventing and reversing disease.
NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) is a form of vitamin B, acting as an enzyme that has been proven to be a key nutrient in preventing and reversing the cellular damage previously mentioned. This diagram depicts the five stages of cellular deterioration that could be delayed with the use of NAD.
Markers of Cellular Deterioration
As cells continue to experience these assaults on our cellular health, our bodies begin to produce recognizable markers of this deterioration, including:

Early Warning Health Assessment
Cell replacement and survival become seriously compromised if these cellular reactions are not caught soon enough. Some good diagnostic tools that can provide some early warning protection include:
By using these early warning health assessment tools, it has been proven that natural/functional medicine doctors can prevent and reverse over 80 percent of all chronic illness, and the formula for this prevention and reversal process is usually the same in each case.
The evidence-based science behind these natural approaches is indisputable and will eventually be adopted by everyone once the profit-driven health care system is dramatically changed. We need a health and prevention system instead of a disease management profit-based system.
NAD is now beginning to assume its role as the next superstar in this strategy to improve cellular health in some very serious ways. Here are the primary improvement categories for cellular health improvement identified in current NAD research.
The cell cycle process controls cell replacement and cellular death. If any of the key change junctures are negatively influenced by toxins, poor nutrition or stress of some kind, then this cycle could be disrupted, leading to the development of inferior cells, mutated cells or even cell death. NAD has the ability to correct these disturbances and even fix mutated DNA if it can be delivered to the cells before permanent mutation can occur.
As We Age
In addition to the impact of poor nutrition, toxins, and stress, there are also natural genetic and biochemical changes that happen as part of “normal aging.” Cellular replacement time declines, enzyme, probiotic and antioxidant levels decline, and, levels of NAD decline. We can address most of these cellular aging factors with better diet, detoxification, stress reduction and supplementation with key enzymes, probiotics, and other nutritional supplements, include NAD. This aging process, as related to the presence of NAD, looks something like this:
1. NAD declines with age — The DNA in our cells becomes damaged due to assaults by free radicals. This increases the need for NAD, because it is a key element of the DNA repair process.
2. NAD/NADH ratio — This decline in NAD can change the ratio of NAD/NADH, which causes disruption to the basic cellular processes it facilitates.
3. Early cellular changes — Low NAD leads to decreased mitochondrial oxidation and insufficient ATP production. Low energy.
4. Low energy consequences — Insufficient cellular energy impedes cellular function, including DNA maintenance and repair.
5. Mitochondrial communication—Reduced mitochondrial communication impedes cellular defense mechanisms, such as immune function as well as increased vulnerability for microbial illnesses, genetic predisposition and biochemical imbalances. (Diabetes, heart disease, etc.)
Increasing NAD levels
The very first step in this effort to increase NAD levels is to get the NAD/NADH blood test. This will establish the existing levels of NAD homeostasis. Then, if levels are low or out of balance, the following steps can be taken:
The probable outcomes of increasing NAD levels:
Summary
While we should be cautious about using the term ¡§miracle cure,¡¨ it is obvious that NAD plays a crucial role in our cellular health. We know that levels of NAD decline by as much as 50 percent between the ages of 40 and 50. We also know that this decline has a potentially negative impact on every one of our 60 trillion cells.