AMA #12: Thoughts on Longevity Supplements (Resveratrol, NR, NMN, Etc.) & How to Improve Memory

Andrew Huberman, who introduces himself as a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine, frames this episode as an Ask Me Anything (AMA) for the premium subscriber channel. He says the channel exists partly to support the standard Huberman Lab podcast, which comes out every Monday at no cost on YouTube, Apple, Spotify and other feeds. It also exists to fund human research on mental health, physical health and performance at Stanford and elsewhere.

He adds that the Tiny Foundation has agreed to match every dollar the premium channel generates for research studies. By his account, this doubles the total funding going to those studies. The episode then moves through listener questions, starting with whether resveratrol extends lifespan and ending with an explanation of working memory.

The first listener points to the "conjecture" around resveratrol and asks whether it can extend lifespan. Huberman uses the question to give his wider view of longevity supplements. He recalls that resveratrol drew attention years ago because people believed it could act on cellular pathways and extend the life of individual cells, and possibly of whole organisms, including humans. Grape seed extract, which he says contains a fair amount of resveratrol or can be converted into it, got similar attention.

I think by now, 2023, it's fair to say that most of that thinking has been, let's just say, debunked.

He separates possible cellular benefits from lifespan claims. Resveratrol "might have some positive effects on the functioning of our cells," he says, but there is "very little, if any, direct evidence" that it increases lifespan. He presents this as his current thinking, not a final verdict. He asks viewers to post links in the YouTube comments to any modern, highly controlled data showing otherwise, preferably from human, nonhuman primate or even mouse studies.

His own use of grape seed extract shows the distinction in practice. He takes 400 to 800 milligrams a day, usually with a meal. He says he does so mainly for its effects on vascular function and blood flow, plus a few other effects it has been linked to, and not for resveratrol pathways or longer life. He calls the evidence for those effects "reasonably strong," strong enough to justify the supplement once potential downsides and cost are weighed. He describes it as part of a small set of supplements he takes as "a kind of general insurance policy": ones that appear very safe at the doses he mentions, may benefit cells, and are fairly or very low cost.

He also keeps its importance modest. He would not put grape seed extract in his top five or even top 10 supplements for someone with a limited budget choosing between 1 and 10. He says he plans a future episode listing everything he takes, why, for how long, the effects he has noticed subjectively and in his blood work, and what he does or does not recommend to others. His closing answer is limited by the evidence he knows: he does not think resveratrol increases longevity, "at least I'm not aware of any direct evidence for that in humans."

Huberman next turns to other supplements and drugs often promoted for lifespan, starting with the NAD pathway. He says NAD-related approaches got sudden attention about four or five years earlier. He describes NAD as present in all of our cells and highly active in young animals and humans, but made across the whole lifespan. He links it to cellular energy production and to mitochondrial function in both directions. NR and NMN, he explains, are considered by many to be precursors to NAD.

The argument for these compounds, he notes, has been made by some earlier Huberman Lab guests and others: raising NAD levels in cells could potentially extend lifespan. He holds off on judging that claim at first and lists three common ways people try to raise NAD. The first is NR, taken as a capsule or powder, which "we know can increase NAD levels." The second is NMN, where he says there has been debate over whether it actually raises NAD in cells, gets into cells, or is converted into NAD. The third is NAD itself, given by intravenous infusion or, in some cases, by mouth as a liquid or pill.

He says he has tried all three. He takes "500 of NR" every day and one to two grams of NMN as a sublingual powder, which dissolves under the tongue and has "this kind of tangy flavor." He says he sometimes took NR alone or NMN alone to compare them subjectively, looking at energy, how he felt and any side effects, before settling on taking both daily. His stated aim is to raise NAD levels in his body.

I do not take NR and NMN in order to increase my lifespan.

He says it is "unclear and seems somewhat unlikely" that raising NAD will increase lifespan, while keeping open the possibility that future human data could show it. He acknowledges "some animal data" suggesting NR and/or NMN can increase lifespan, but says that is not why he takes them. He then flags clearly that what follows is his own experience: "It is not based on any peer-reviewed studies."

In his account, NR and NMN give him a lot of sustained mental and physical energy through the day. He notes he has always had high energy, but at 48 he wants to do whatever he safely can to keep it as high as is reasonable, without becoming restless or unable to sleep. He takes them usually within an hour or two of waking, after his morning routine, and typically 30 minutes to two hours before his first meal, which usually comes around 11:00 AM. He says he does not tightly control that timing. When he has stopped taking NR and/or NMN, he says he did not feel completely drained, but he noticed less energy than when taking them. He describes the effect as tapering off nicely in the evening, and he can still fall asleep.

Huberman discloses his financial relationships twice. He says he has "no, zero, financial relationship" to any company that makes NR. He used to have a relationship with an NMN company, and he says he currently has no financial relationship with any company that makes or sells NMN or NR.

He also describes a regulatory change. According to him, NMN was filed earlier in 2023 as an experimental drug in a clinical trial, and an FDA ruling then made it unavailable for commercial sale as a supplement, because something listed as an experimental drug cannot also be listed as a supplement. He adds that NMN can still be found on the open market, including on Amazon, but that he cannot speak to the purity of one source versus another and listeners would have to look into that themselves.