Cognitive Dissonance

As much as I enjoy Longevity.Technology, I find their recent article about a study in press in eClinicalMedicine – The Lancet Discovery Science ("Effects of nicotinamide riboside on NAD+ levels, cognition, and symptom recovery in long-COVID: a randomized controlled trial", ) deeply problematic. To be clear, I don't have a problem with the Lancet article, only with how it is quite literally advertised.

Titled "NAD+ boost shows promise in Long COVID study" (link), Longevity.Technology's post accepts and reproduces the nicotinamide riboside (NR) supplier's claims without problem:

"Rob Fried, Chief Executive Officer of Niagen Bioscience, said: “These findings demonstrate that ten weeks of Niagen NR supplementation increased NAD+ levels and improved long COVID symptoms of fatigue, sleep quality, and depression, compared to symptoms before treatment."

But that's not the case at all. The Lancet article states, very explicitly, that "NR increased NAD+ within 5 weeks but did not significantly improve cognition, fatigue, sleep, or mood vs. Placebo." Post-hoc exploratory analyses show potential within-group improvements, but given the study design (the placebo arm crosses over to NR) it is hard to conclude anything, certainly not superiority over placebo, a low threshold. The study authors are optimistic in stating that the post-hoc analyses suggest the need for larger trials but they are not out of bounds.

But there is a giant leap from the study results to the company's claims. So giant in fact that it is insulting to all the people who suffer from long COVID, a serious and debilitating condition.

Phil Newman, Eric Verdin