Comment · Fri, October 7, 2022 · ND Owner
I've read that NMN supplements are frequently contaminated with LPS (endotoxin) - does ND test for that?
What they were answering
Direct reply to the original post in this thread.
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · ND Owner
Endotoxin is only an issue for bacterially-made NMN/NR. This is where they use modified Escherichia coli to biosynthesize NMN. This was being done a lot a couple years ago. However, we don't use that synthesis method. Ours is completely synthetically made. There is no way for Endotoxin to be made in the process. It's also not a commonly tested for thing. It's pretty specialized. You need a BSL-2 (biosafety level 2) lab and some very specific cell-based colorimetric assay kits. Those kits actually use the blood of the horseshoe crab, believe it or not. You would only really use it if the raw material you were working with was made in a way that could result in endotoxin, which ours isn't.
I also looked into the Twitter thread you linked. The dude stirring all this fear up is Dr. Charles Brenner, chief scientific officer of Chromadex, who are the people constantly putting out bad articles on NMN because they sell nicotinamide riboside.
https://www.chromadex.com/bios/charles-brenner/
This battle with Chromadex trying to discredit NMN is getting really old... The stupid thing is that bacterially-produced NR can also result in endotoxin! Hmm, I wonder why Chromadex would be bringing up this obscure shit now? Ohh, I know! Let's check their recent patents!
Ohh shit, new patents filed by Chromadex for the synthesis of NR and derivatives...
https://patents.google.com/patent/US11274117B2/en?oq=11%2c274%2c117
https://patents.google.com/patent/US11242364B1/en?oq=11%2c242%2c364
Who would have an incentive to try to stir up drama and scare consumers about an obscure toxin only showing up in older bacterially-produced NMN? Hmm, maybe the company trying to patent all the other ways of making it! Also, the company who constantly says NMN is useless and worse than NR, because they only sell NR. It's literally their only ingredient they sell. They have put all their eggs in the nicotinamide riboside basket, and clearly want to discredit NMN any chance they can get. Why would David Sinclair think that NMN was commonly contaminated with endotoxin? Well because the older primary method of making it was using E.coli, and perhaps the source he is using is still making it that way.
Here is that bacterial synthesis method.
Luckily some researchers in China were able to create a completely new synthetic NMN synthesis two years ago, which is how our NMN is made. It's also how costs have been able to become more reasonable. NMN was ridiculously expensive prior to 2020. These new synthesis methods have been able to make costs more reasonable. These new synthesis methods do not use bacterial biosynthesis, so no risk of endotoxin. That being said, I am not opposed to seeing if we can get a lab to screen for it for piece of mind. I found the kit for it. We have a partner lab we work with that has a BSL-2 room. I will see if they can run the test for us.
There are also some claims as to why David Sinclair would want to discredit other NMN that seem very interesting, and concerning, to be honest. David Sinclair is a founder of Metrobiotech, which is trying to make a pharmaceutical NMN formulation. Could he be trying to discredit and stir up fear of other NMN? His company is clearly trying to get the FDA to stop allowing NMN as a supplement... That's pretty shitty, and not something I knew! I respect David Sinclair for his work popularizing these things, but I am not so sure about this new feud going on.
So this whole thing is really sketch, to be honest. Chromadex is trying to stir fear in people about NMN, so they can sell more NR. Sinclair seems to be trying to stir up fear in generic NMN, and to get the FDA to disallow it as a supplement altogether, so his company Metrobiotech can sell it as a pharmaceutical. Normal consumers are caught in the middle, and don't know who to believe. Pretty fucking dumb if you ask me. Everyone pulling shady shit and fighting each other in the background. It's pretty stupid that everyone has to look into the ulterior motives of all these players in the industry. Let me work with my lab director to see about getting those kits and doing a screen test at our partner lab with a BSL-2 room. Even though ours is not made with the synthesis where it can be an issue, I might as well just get extra confirmation.