NAD+ supplement craze sweeps Hollywood — but does it work?

Here’s one fad that never gets old.

A cohort of health-conscious celebrities — notorious for indulging in bizarre skincare regimes and the latest weight loss cure-alls — have found a new love in the form of the anti-aging supplement NAD+.

An acronym for the enzyme nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, NAD+ plays a vital role in metabolism, DNA repair, immunity and longevity.

Jennifer Aniston has revealed to the Wall Street Journal that she uses the pricey boosters, calling them “the future.” Podcaster Joe Rogan is a fan as well.

“I’m going to NAD for the rest of my life, and I’m never going to age,” Hailey Bieber can be heard saying in a promotional video, where she receives the treatment through an IV with her pal Kendall Jenner.

“NAD coenzymes are the central catalysts of all living things,” biochemist Charles Brenner told Business Insider.

“They underlie the conversion of protein, fat, and carbohydrate into energy. They underlie the conversion of everything that we eat into everything that we do and everything that we are. They are required for our cells to generate energy.”

NAD+ boosters supposedly have rejuvenating, anti-aging effects. However, since it is classified as a supplement, it isn’t regulated, and certainly isn’t FDA approved.

That little detail hasn’t stopped the stars before — some allegedly used off-label Ozempic to shed a few inches from their waists, forking over thousands for the drug, before it was ever prescribed to the masses.

Currently, a precursory check online shows numerous sources willing to sell NAD+ supplements by mail.

Google searches for NAD are predicted to soar 10% within the next year, Vogue Business reports, and the market for the therapy was valued at a whopping $184 million in 2022 as clinics offer NAD+ IV drips are seeing a spike in demand.

“The pandemic brought health consciousness to the forefront, compelling everyone to think about what it means to be healthy,” Olivia Houghton, a beauty, health and wellness analyst at The Future Laboratory, told Vogue Business, adding that more people are “valuing long-term health.”

“You have in this industry billionaires, biohackers, brilliant scientists from the best schools, but you also have athletes and beautiful people and people who just generally want to stay young,” Robert Fried, the CEO of the NAD supplement company ChromaDex, told BI, adding that it’s beneficial for increasing “resiliency” when you’re tired, sick or otherwise.

But not all supplements are created equally — and many of the supplements and IV drips available may not work to boost NAD+ levels in the body. In fact, some experts told BI the products are “useless.”

“Unfortunately, NAD itself is not as effective as other compounds,” NAD researcher Dr. Shin-ichiro Imai, a professor at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, told the outlet. “It’s big and it cannot actually easily go into cells. And also, if you take NAD orally, your gut bacteria basically consume NAD completely.”

Some skincare brands have tried to incorporate NAD+ into formulations for topical rejuvenation, including dermatologist Dr. Sam Bunting, who calls it “the next frontier in skin well-aging.”

“For years, we’ve been relegated to drinking collagen and applying topical treatments to increase our collagen levels,” Isabel Greiner, founder of the skincare brand Intuisse, which sells NAD+ lotions, creams and serums, told Vogue.

“NAD+ gets to the root cause and seems to turn back the clock on our skin cells’ collagen production,” she said.

But experts say the topical route isn’t necessarily more effective than IVs or supplements — many factors are at play, such as formulation, absorption and more, Vogue reports — and, despite NAD+ boosters’ safety, there is still more research to be done on its efficacy.

“We are really early in the first inning,” NAD booster researcher Dr. Shalender Bhasin told BI.