Summary: Ever notice how your body can heal and repair itself when you are well and how you can’t easily bounce back from minor setbacks when you are sunburned or jet-lagged? Have you lost a step or two as you have aged? Natalie & Jonathan noticed this and decided to bring in Dr. Charles Brenner, the head of Biochemistry at University of Iowa and the world's foremost authority on nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide “NAD,” which he calls the central catalyst of metabolism. The reason our healing is limited is that many conditions of metabolic stress and aging attack our NAD system. Dr. Brenner discovered a new vitamin called nicotinamide riboside or “NR" that boosts NAD. The genes he discovered that turn NR into NAD are ramped up in tissues that are under stress like a damaged heart or nerve. This episode is a phenomenal education in metabolism from an amazing scientist!
