Stay young study

Help us determine how to maintain healthy blood cells

We need your help to discover what causes a decrease in a molecule linked to better health and longer life.

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide is a coenzyme bearing the less intimidating abbreviation NAD⁺. The molecule is found in all living cells and is central to the production and use of energy. It is also involved in repairing damaged DNA and regulating the immune system, among other essential functions. But it decreases as we age, and this decrease may be linked to a number of age-associated diseases. If so, maintaining NAD⁺ is important but at what level?

Answering this question is one of the goals of our study. While products that increase NAD⁺ levels are now available, the “lack of information about an optimal level hinders the clinical benefit of any therapies,” says Associate Professor Ross Grant of the Avondale University-based Australasian Research Institute.

The other goal? Assessing the influence of other factors on the level of NAD⁺. Maintaining and monitoring optimal NAD⁺ levels “would seem good clinical practice and a sound health promoting strategy,” says Ross.

As chief investigator, Ross is seeking a sample of healthy people from across the adult age range and also from people who are have diabetes and women who are pregnant—to discover any correlations with variables including age, gender, clinical condition and lifestyle factors such as diet, sleep quality and quantity and physical activity.

So, if you are aged 18 or over and are healthy, or are pregnant, or have type 2 diabetes, and you can get to our Lake Macquarie campus, then you may be eligible to participate. You cannot participate if you have cancer or have been in remission for less than five years, have an autoimmune disease or smoke.

The Australasian Research Institute facilitates, coordinates and funds research within Adventist healthcare. It is the first research body to show NAD⁺ decreases as we age. In a previous study, it identified two factors—increased oxidative stress and inflammation—and linked the decrease to reduced energy production and tissue aging especially in the brain. So, low NAD⁺ levels are implicated in age-related degenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s.