Most people pick an NMN dosage and take it on its own. In my protocol that is backwards, because your body has an enzyme that burns NAD+ building blocks as fast as you add them. So the leak gets sealed first, and only then does NMN fill the tank.
NAD+ is Pathway 3 of the Forever Protocol in Chapter 14 of Better Than Natural. This page puts the full NMN dosage, the order and the alternatives in one place.
Your cells have a repair crew called sirtuins, and they need fuel. They fix DNA damage and keep cells working the way they did when you were young. Sirtuins run on NAD+ [1]. So do the PARP enzymes that patch broken DNA strands.
Your DNA takes somewhere between 10,000 and 100,000 hits a day. Because every repair burns NAD+, the demand never stops. Meanwhile, your production falls as you age, and by 50 your levels can be about half of what they were. Then, when the fuel runs low, the repair crew slows down, and damage builds up faster than it gets fixed.
That is NAD+ depletion, Theory #3 of the 17 Theories of Aging in the book. It is also one of the easiest to move, because the fuel can be put back.
NMN (nicotinamide mononucleotide) is the direct precursor to NAD+. You swallow it, then your cells convert it, so NAD+ goes up. That part is simple.
However, there is a problem: an enzyme called NNMT. It burns through NAD+ building blocks and throws them away. Taking NMN while NNMT runs unchecked is like pouring water into a bucket with a hole in the bottom. Levels rise for a while, then drain right back down.
5-Amino-1MQ blocks NNMT, so it plugs the hole. Once the hole is sealed, the NAD+ you make from NMN stays up instead of leaking out. That is why my NMN dosage never runs alone: the seal goes first, then the fill.
Below is the full NMN dosage table by goal, the protocol step by step, NMN vs NR vs IV, side effects and what to track.
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This page documents Dr. Tony Huge’s research and self-experimentation. It is journalism and education, not medical advice, and it creates no doctor-patient relationship. Dr. Tony Huge holds a Juris Doctor; he is a lawyer, not a physician. Read the full Legal Disclaimer.