Hi everyone, I'm new here but have been following the NR threads for a few months.
I wanted to mention, I've heard of people using NR via nasal inhalation (insufflation). Given that I am not aware of a way for consumers to purchase pure NR without excipients (if anyone knows, I would be curious where), I assume that these folks are breaking open gelcaps and using the contents in this fashion. This morning I broke a few open from a couple of different vendors (HPN and Prohealthspan), dissolved each in dH2O (reported NR solubility in water is 446.5 mg/ml, about 125% more soluble than table salt, fortunately) and filtered to leave (in both cases) a water insoluble white retentate that is possibly SiO2 (though I haven't confirmed). So for anyone doing this or considering this route of administration, be advised that SiO2 is not likely something you want in your lungs.
Anecdotally, NR at the recommended dosage has been an excellent mood booster for me (2x125mg each morning), my energy seems to be higher through the day, fasting is a bit more difficult (I try to do 8/16 IF on weekdays), and I didn't get sore after snowboarding for our first time last weekend in quite a few years whereas my wife was very sore (and she does not take NR).
I just spoke with HPN customer service, they stated the following:
On Wed, Dec 14, 2016 at 5:27 PM, Customer Care <customercare@hpnsupplements.com> wrote:
Hi Matt,
our capsule contain no artificial excipients. Its a plant based capsule no gelatin or animal product. We also have Niagen powder which is pure nicotinamide riboside. Each container contains 7.5g. (60 scoops of 125mgs per scoop). Unlike other companies we do not use any fillers or arificial ingredients during our manufacturing process.
Which is most certainly at odds with my test this morning as all (or any, if there was any) NR in these capsules would have dissolved. My rotovap is out of commission at the moment so I'm manually drying the filtrate. If there is nothing there, well... my next email will be to Chromadex, asking them if they have recently tested the HPN product. I've also reached out to Prohealthspan, we'll see what they come back with. It was a nearly equivalent amount of excipient in both brands (within margin of error).
Nonetheless, the product absolutely does contain excipients.
This weekend, whether or not I can fix the rotovap I'll provide some measurements here, so we can all be aware of what % is soluble vs. insoluble. That would at least tell us the limit of how much of the powder in these gelcaps could be NR.
EDIT: Ok, spoke on the phone with HPN customer service, they said that it was a natural fiber of some kind, definitely not SiO2.
I'll still run some tests this weekend and see if I can verify but I could see this filtrand being a fiber of some kind.
Edited by hoonto, 14 December 2016 - 11:41 PM.