Covid Strategy: Hit back with NAD
April 04, 2020References: New York Times, Foreign Policy , Bloomberg, NBCNews, ScienceDirect, RejuvenationResearch, Linus Pauling Institute, Cell Life Sci, [Genes and Development, Preprints, BioRxiv, Nature,
All right, you are staying home. (Not everyone is! See Cell Phone Tracking. And you are thinking about face masks. (You should, that is a central tenant of Taiwan's world-class control action.). You even heard of getting TB vaccination (called BCG) as a means of boosting your immune system, like they are trying in Germany. And yes, you are determined to have your ferritin monitored if you get sick. It indicates a cytokine storm is brewing and you are about to get a lot sicker. Ask for tocilizumab, and turn it off early.
But I want to get to the heart of a new idea you can implement yourself. Your energy. One of the cardinal symptoms of the COVID-19 is extreme fatigue. I mean, extreme. Just a little more and you're dead. Yeah, loss of smell early, dry cough, fever, and chills, muscle aches are all in there too. Then pneumonia and organ failure. But without energy, you're done. And now we know why.
Let me introduce NADH Niacin, Vitamin B3 is its source. It is smack dab in the middle of energy production. You can't make your internal fuel, ATP, in your mitochondria without NADH. Virus infections highjack NADH production and deplete it. Getting older and it gets a little shakier too. Then viral infections are harder on you. And that appears to be front and center of the COVID-19 problem. At age 69, I have about a 10% mortality chance, boosted higher by being male. Is it my NADH deficit? We know NAD plays a key role in your innate immune response to viruses. So it's not unexpected to see the article published just this week about COVID-19 depleting NAD and that being central to its pathology. All metabolic paths of COVID-19 end up with NAD depletion.
Can you fix it? Yup! In the last few years, we have realized that taking Niacin is a pain. Too much flushing. We have tried it for everything because NAD is so important to our health. You can't get people to take that flushing. But if you add the "riboside" form to it, it works! No flush. Good blood levels.
Clinical results? This is moving too fast. Pending. But is NAD-riboside dangerous. Nope. GRAS - generally recognized as safe. Niacin without the flush.
WWW: What will work for me. Well, I bought some off Amazon. First time I looked it was there. Next time, it might be sold out. There is a fancy brand name but a bunch of companies make it. For now, it might be worth the branded name. I intend to take it till all this craziness is over. Meantime, I'm practicing spelling [tocilizumab so I can ask for it](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/01/health/coronavirus-cytokine-storm-immune-system.html) by name.
Pop Quiz
1. The heart of viral infections is what? Answer: they downregulate your energy production via NAD to highjack it to make their own reproduction.
2. That has been proven with COVID-19. T or F. Answer: True
3. As you get older, you make less NAD. T or F. Answer: Sadly, true
4. You can safely raise your own NAD levels by taking what? Answer: Take nicotinamide riboside, 300 mg or more
5. Should I wear a mask in public? Answer: For heavens sakes, yes. The countries that have succeeded do it. We can. My guess is much more is spread by insignificant aerosolization of saliva that we realize. Small droplets that happen when you [sing](https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-03-29/coronavirus-choir-outbreak), [talk](https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/928149), breath deeply, cough and sneeze. Cough and sneeze get all the attention but explain to me how it spreads so fast short of those. We make fewer droplets when we just talk, [but we still do](https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/928149). And that's why masks work. You go for a walk and a 21-year-old jogger runs by, breathing hard. You’re done without a mask. At least worse odds.
Have an idea for next week? Write us!