04 May 2016 --- A study has revealed that Vitamin B3 such as Nicotinamide Riboside (NR) can stop the aging process of organs and muscles and can prolong lives.

NR is a form of vitamin B3 that can function as the precursor to NAD+ or the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide. It has no side effects. The increase intracellular levels of NAD can prevent Wallerian-like nerve damage that is associated with multiple sclerosis, normal aging, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease and cancer therapy. An amount of nicotinamide riboside can be found in foods such as milk.

Researchers from the Laboratory of Integrated Systems Physiology (LISP) at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) discovered that NR plays a role in muscular regeneration and can prolong lives.

The study, published in the journal Science, was led by Johan Auwerx and written by Ph.D. student Hongbo Zhang.

The regenerative capacity of the certain organs like liver and kidney and muscles that include the heart weakens. This is the cause of disorders typical in aging.

The study involved a group of mice as the model. The researchers wanted to regenerate the stem cells in elderly mice. According to Zhang the fatigue in stem cells was one of the causes of poor regeneration or even degeneration in certain tissues or organs. The researchers gave a nicotinamide riboside to 2-year old mice, which is an advanced age for them.

Zhang wanted to understand how the regeneration process deteriorated with age. To do so, he teamed up with colleagues from ETH Zurich, the University of Zurich and universities in Canada and Brazil. Through the use of several markers, he was able to identify the molecular chain that regulates how mitochondria – the "powerhouse" of the cell – function and how they change with age.

The role that mitochondria play in metabolism has already been amply demonstrated, "but we were able to show for the first time that their ability to function properly was important for stem cells," said Auwerx.

The results showed that the muscular regeneration was much better in mice that received NR. They also lived longer compared to mice that did not take NR.

Although further in-depth studies are required, this could be a breakthrough for regenerative medicine. Aurwex has suggested that the study could have very important implications in the field of regenerative medicine. He further explained that they are not talking about foreign substances into the body, but rather restoring the body's ability to repair itself with a product that can be taken with food. This can be effective in the aging process and can treat diseases in young people such as muscular dystrophy (myopathy).

Source: Nutrition Horizon