Dr. Rhonda Patrick recently talked about boosting NAD levels in the body in a conversation with Dr. Charles Brenner. She also made a social media post talking about how exercise helps in raising NAD levels.
According to Patrick, research shows that a single 40-minute session of aerobic exercise can increase the expression of enzymes involved in NAD synthesis and raise NAD levels in human blood.
NAD, or nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, plays a fundamental role in cellular energy production and metabolic function. As NAD levels decline with age and in certain health conditions, metabolic efficiency and muscle performance tend to decline as well.
This creates an interesting relationship: NAD supports exercise capacity, while exercise supports healthy NAD production in the body.
The connection between exercise and NAD has caught the attention of professional sports organizations. During a conversation about NAD’s role in recovery, biochemist Dr. Charles Brenner noted that “the sports trainers and the heads of, you know, professional football clubs and college athletic programs that buy, you know, Niagen, buy the tub, swear by this.”
Exercise is one of the most powerful ways to raise NAD levels.
A single 40-minute bout of aerobic exercise increases the expression of enzymes involved in NAD synthesis and elevates NAD levels in human blood.
When NAD declines (as it does with aging and in certain diseases),… pic.twitter.com/QQaQIwYDYQ
— Dr. Rhonda Patrick (@foundmyfitness) February 13, 2026
Niagen is a commercial form of nicotinamide riboside, or NR, a precursor compound that the body can convert into NAD. Brenner acknowledged that “there’s not a lot of rigorous placebo-controlled data on it,” but pointed to widespread use among athletic programs.
The New England Patriots reportedly used NR during the Bill Belichick and Tom Brady era. Brenner mentioned “there’s like photos of two advisors of Niagen, myself and Dr. Rudolph Tanzi, who’s a professor at Harvard, you know, with Bill Belichick when he was the coach of the New Women Patriots and the coach of a 40-year-old Tom Brady.”
He added that NR supplements are present “in a lot of training rooms for the reason of recovery,” though he noted uncertainty about whether teams continue using it after coaching changes.
Despite the anecdotal reports from professional sports, the scientific community has yet to conduct the rigorous studies needed to confirm these benefits.
Brenner emphasized this gap, stating “I think that it’s something that really needs to be studied in, you know, laboratory exercise physiology science, because you can do those kinds of trials, right? You can work people really hard on a bicycle and, you know, see whether you can work them as hard the following day.”
The theoretical framework makes sense. During intense physical activity, muscles consume more NAD. The body responds by increasing transcription of genes and enzymes involved in NAD production. This creates an adaptive response where the body recognizes increased demand and adjusts accordingly.
So, could supplementing with NAD precursors provide additional benefits beyond what exercise alone delivers? The hypothesis is that combining exercise with supplementation might create a synergistic effect, but this remains unproven in controlled scientific settings.
The current evidence points to exercise as a reliable, proven method for supporting the body’s NAD system.
