Comment · Wed, February 11, 2026 · Nootropics Depot & Natrium Health
My top 10 takeaways from Rhonda Patrick's new episode about NAD precursor supplements (NR vs. NMN)
Original post in this thread
biohacker045 · 66 points
What's up boys. I just finished Rhonda Patrick's new episode with Charles Brenner (the guy who discovered nicotinamide riboside, AKA NR). Here's everything I learned. My top 10 takeaways:
1. Ok so first off, buying an "NAD supplement" on Amazon is basically a waste of money. You're much better off buying a precursor (like NR) and supplementing with that to boost NAD. (timestamp)
2. NR is way more effective than that other NAD precursor (NMN). So I'm not an expert but I think NMN is the one David Sinclair preaches about. Charles stressed multiple times that NMN has to be broken down into NR to get into the cell... so you're just better off taking NR. (timestamp)
3. The absolute biggest benefit of taking NR (for healthy people) is exercise recovery. Apparently used to be common in the Patriots locker room under Belichick. So Brady was definitely taking it. There's photos of Charles Brenner and Belichick out there somewhere. (timestamp)
4. Rhonda said she is taking Tru Niagen at the moment (NR) and has been f…
What they were answering
RarageInTheGarage · 5 points
NMN is a fundamental biomolecule.
Wasn't David Sinclair trying to get NR "regulated" as well, a while back?
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Nootropics Depot & Natrium Health
That's correct. Tru Niagen patented nicotinamide riboside... which is a natural endogenous compound found in everyone's bodies and in multiple food sources. They tried to say they were the ones that "discovered" it, and that nobody else was allowed to sell it. For a while they sued anyone that did. Then a federal judge invalidated their patent, because you can't patent naturally occurring compound found in milk. They were called Chromadex at the time (The Chromadex name has since been sold off to another reference standard company.).
So Tru Niagen/Niagen Biosciences had that patent invalidated.
ChromaDex Fails to Milk Its Patent for Subject Matter Eligibility
Right after that ruling, people were still afraid of getting sued by them, because they were so aggressive with it. However, my reading of the ruling made it clear, and my lawyers confirmed, so we immediately brought out a nicotinamide riboside on Nootropics Depot. We were actually the first brand to release NR after that ruling. Everyone was waiting to see if we would get sued first, but we did not, so everyone else then jumped into selling NR. Well as part of all that, Tru Niagen was lobbying the government to make NMN illegal. They said that because an investigational new drug filing happened for it, that it was no longer allowed to be sold as a supplement. However, we literally sold NMN before that IND was filed. The FDA made the claim that it didn't count, because it was not "legally" sold before the IND was filed. To start, that's not what the law states. It doesn't state that it has to be legally sold before an IND is filed. It just says that it has to be sold as a supplement, which NMN was. The FDA was saying it was not legal because it required a new dietary ingredient filing. However, that's total BS, because it was in the food supply before 1994 and had self-affirmed GRAS from multiple manufacturers. It's literally in human breast milk, the first food we eat. No fucking way it's a NEW DIETARY INGREDIENT.
Amazon dropped everyone's listings with NMN in it because of that FDA statement, and our bank actually tried to get us to remove NMN from our site. I wrote a massive legal opinion about the whole thing, and sent it to the lawyers at our bank. They agreed with my position on it, and decided to stand down and allow us to continue selling NMN. Around this time, two industry organizations filed citizen petitions to the FDA to reconsider their position on it. The FDA is required to respond to those within 180 days, by law. This meant I knew the date when we would have a final answer, and I knew what the final answer would be, so we continued on like normal. Well the 180 days came up, and the FDA literally sent a formal response saying "We are not ready to respond yet." They argued that response satisfied their legal requirement to respond within 180 days... Saying we have no response is a response, legally (according to them), which is horseshit. However, I knew ultimately what would happen. You can't deny NMN is legally allowed in the US. You just can't, I guess unless you are greedy company trying to take away health products from people just to profit off them. Then in October, the FDA finally rules the way I knew they had to. NMN was "allowed" as a dietary supplement again.
FDA Reinstates NMN as Dietary Supplement After NPA Lawsuit
I put allowed in quotes, because we always were allowed. That never changed with the FDA's initial letter, which my legal letter clearly laid out. So sure, the FDA got back on the same position that the rest of the world had been the whole time, but it was never actually legally disallowed from being sold as a supplement. They wanted you to think it was, but it was not. So now everyone agrees it is a legal dietary supplement, because it is. However, now Tru Niagen is suing the FDA trying to get them to go back on their October ruling and say it is not allowed.