541: Can a Pill Help You Live Longer? The Science Behind NAD and Longevity | Robert Fried

REI co op knows when you're up at 04:30AM on a Saturday for a long run and you're actually excited, not everyone gets it, but we do. At REI, we're here for people who get outside. Gear up for your next run-in store or at rei.com. What What up, everybody? It's episode 541 of The Genius Life. Let's go. The Genius Life. What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to the Genius Life. I'm your host, Max Lugavere, where we try to live a little smarter, longer, and ideally without having to mainline wellness trends like it's a competitive sport. Today's episode is all about NAD, a tiny molecule that sits at the center of cellular energy, mitochondrial function, and DNA repair. And the supplement has become one of the biggest players in the NAD conversation, n r or nicotinamide riboside. My guest is Robert Fried, CEO of True NIAGEN, and his path to get here is wild. Hollywood studio executive and film producer turned longevity science CEO. We break down what NAD actually does, why levels tend to decline with age and metabolic stress, and what the research suggests about boosting NAD to support health span. Now quick note on transparency. True NIAGEN did sponsor this episode, but as always, sponsors have zero input on the questions that I ask or where the conversation goes. On this episode, you'll hear us get into the real science, the uncertainty, and even the hype, especially around NADIV drips, why taking NAD itself may not make sense, and why precursors like NR are likely the more rational route if your goal is to raise NAD inside cells. If you're curious to try out TRU NIAGEN for yourself, head to trunigen.com. That's spelled truniagen.com and use code genius 20 to get 20% off of your purchase. Listen all the way through to the end. You're not gonna wanna miss a beat. And as always, don't forget to share this episode with friends and loved ones that you think may benefit from it. And if you enjoyed it, please leave a rating and review on your podcast app of choice and make sure that you're subscribed here and on YouTube. With all that out of the way, let's get into it. It's episode 541. Let's go. Rob, welcome to the show. How you doing? Nice to be here. Doing great. You won an Oscar. You have run a movie studio. You have this, like, incredible career in Hollywood, and you've since pivoted despite all of your many successes to running one of the, preeminent science platforms in the world regarding NAD. So I wanna learn more about that pivot. I wanna learn about all things NAD, and I wanna learn about learn about n r, nicotinamide, riboside. So let's just start high level. Do you see well, what is NAD, and what are its implications in terms of health and disease? NAD is very exciting. It stands for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide. It's a coenzyme that's …