NAD+ Dosage Chart
IV, subcutaneous, nasal and oral precursor protocols, what the human evidence actually covers, and which of these numbers a study stands behind.
Fact-checking at PeptideProbe is editorial, not clinical. Our editors check claims, dosing figures, and trial results against primary sources; they are not licensed clinicians and do not provide medical review. Nothing here is medical advice — talk to a qualified healthcare provider before starting any therapy.
Educational tool — not medical advice. This calculator provides estimates based on population averages and published trial data. Outputs are not clinical recommendations and do not replace evaluation by a qualified prescriber. Do not start, stop, or change a peptide therapy based on the result of this tool.
NAD+ is a coenzyme central to mitochondrial energy metabolism, not a peptide, and it reaches this site because readers look for it alongside them. It is sold as IV infusion, subcutaneous injection, nasal spray, and as oral precursors — nicotinamide riboside (NR) and nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN). Those routes are not interchangeable, and the doses below do not convert between them. The practical point worth carrying off this page is that clinics infuse IV NAD+ slowly: the flushing, chest tightness, nausea and cramping people report during an infusion are routinely managed by slowing the drip. That is standard practice, not a tested finding — no published study has separated the contribution of infusion rate from that of total dose.
NAD+ at a Glance
| What it is | Coenzyme in mitochondrial energy metabolism — not a peptide |
|---|---|
| Common IV dose | 250–1,000 mg per infusion |
| Infusion time | 2–4 hours, sometimes longer — clinics slow the drip to manage symptoms |
| Common subcutaneous dose | 50–100 mg |
| Oral precursor (NR) | 250–1,000 mg daily |
| Oral precursor (NMN) | 250–500 mg daily |
| FDA status | No approved NAD+ product for these uses |
| Evidence for the dose | Injected/IV: clinic convention. Oral precursors: from trials |
NAD+ Dosing by Use Case
Commonly cited protocols vary by what NAD+ is being used for. The table below summarizes typical ranges reported in clinical practice and published literature.
| Use case | Typical dose | Frequency | Cycle length | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IV infusion (clinic protocol) | 250–1,000 mg | Often daily or on consecutive days for an initial series, then intermittently | Commonly a 4–10 day loading series, then monthly or as-needed | Pushed quickly this commonly causes flushing, chest and abdominal tightness, nausea and cramping, and clinics respond by slowing the drip. Practitioners attribute that to infusion rate rather than total dose; no study has tested the two separately, so treat it as how the route is managed rather than as an established mechanism. |
| Subcutaneous injection | 50–100 mg | Daily to a few times weekly | Ongoing, at practitioner discretion | Used as a lower-cost alternative to infusion. Injection-site stinging is common. No trial has compared this route against IV for any outcome. |
| Nasal spray | Varies widely by product; often 25–100 mg per dose | Daily | Ongoing | Absorption by this route is poorly characterised, so the labelled dose and the delivered dose are not the same claim. |
| Oral precursor — nicotinamide riboside (NR) | 250–1,000 mg daily | Once daily | Ongoing | The best-evidenced route here. Trials have run 100–1,000 mg daily for eight weeks and 1,000 mg daily for six weeks, raising blood NAD+ dose-dependently with no excess adverse events against placebo. Raising the level is what was demonstrated; feeling better was not. |
| Oral precursor — nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) | 250–500 mg daily | Once daily | Ongoing | Regulatory status has moved, and older write-ups are out of date. FDA said in 2022 that NMN was excluded from the dietary supplement definition, which disrupted supply; it has since stepped back from that position, and NMN no longer appears in FDA's directory of problem supplement ingredients. Trials have used 250–2,000 mg daily. |
Stacking NAD+
NAD+ is commonly sold alongside MOTS-c and SS-31 as a mitochondrial stack, and inside IV menus with glutathione and B vitamins. None of those combinations has been tested as a combination in humans, and stacking untested things does not make the evidence add up.
Where these numbers come from
The injected and infused numbers on this chart are clinic convention. No NAD+ product is FDA-approved for any of these uses, so there is no label to derive a dose from, and no trial has established a therapeutic dose for injected or infused NAD+. The oral precursor numbers are different and better supported: they come from randomised trials. Conze 2019 gave 100, 300 and 1,000 mg of nicotinamide riboside daily for eight weeks and saw whole-blood NAD+ rise dose-dependently — 22%, 51% and 142% — and Martens 2018 found 1,000 mg daily over six weeks well tolerated and NAD+-raising in healthy middle-aged and older adults. Human data on directly infused NAD+ is much thinner but not absent: Grant 2019 tracked a six-hour IV infusion (roughly 750 mg in total) in a small pilot and found plasma NAD+ unchanged for the first two hours, and a 2026 randomised trial in ischaemic cardiomyopathy reported improved ejection fraction at 10 mg/day IV for seven days — a dose 25 to 100 times smaller than a wellness infusion, given in a disease population, and not a validation of clinic protocols. What none of it shows is that raising NAD+ makes a healthy person feel or function better. Treat the ranges below as a description of what practitioners do.
Infusion symptoms are managed by slowing the drip — and cost is the real risk to most people
- •Flushing, chest tightness, abdominal cramping, nausea and headache during infusion are common, and slowing the drip is the standard response. They are not usually a reason to stop.
- •IV NAD+ is among the most expensive interventions in this space, frequently several hundred to over a thousand dollars per infusion. The human evidence for infused NAD+ amounts to a pharmacokinetic pilot and one small trial in heart failure at a fraction of the dose — nothing establishing that a wellness infusion does anything for a healthy person.
- •Persistent fatigue has common, treatable causes — thyroid disease, anaemia, B12 deficiency, sleep apnoea, depression. Those are worth excluding before paying for infusions.
- •Compounded injectable NAD+ is not an FDA-approved product, and its regulatory position for pharmacy compounding has been contested rather than settled.
- •No trial has established a maximum safe dose for injected or infused NAD+, so the upper end of the ranges above is convention rather than a tested ceiling.
- •Pregnancy and breastfeeding — no safety data at any dose or route
- •Active malignancy — NAD+ metabolism supports cell proliferation, and the effect of supplementation on tumour growth has not been established in humans; a decision for the treating oncologist, not a wellness clinic
- •Anyone whose fatigue has not been medically evaluated, because an infusion can delay a diagnosis that matters
NAD+ Dosing FAQ
Most clinic protocols use 250 to 1,000 mg per infusion, run over two to four hours or longer. The long infusion time is not padding: pushing the same dose faster is widely reported to bring on flushing, chest tightness and nausea, and slowing the drip is how clinics manage it.
Flushing, chest and abdominal tightness, cramping and nausea are a well-recognised feature of the route, and slowing the infusion typically settles them within minutes. Practitioners explain this as a rate effect rather than a dose effect, but no published study has separated the two, so that explanation is clinical experience rather than a demonstrated mechanism. Either way it is not a sign that the infusion is working.
No study has compared them for any outcome, so anyone claiming one is superior is reasoning from theory. What can be said is that the oral precursors are the versions with substantial human trial data behind them, and they are far cheaper.
Oral precursors raise blood NAD+ dose-dependently and are well tolerated — that much is established. What has not been established is patient-centred benefit: no trial has shown that raising NAD+ improves energy, fatigue, cognition or any measure of aging. The nearest thing to a positive signal is Martens 2018, whose authors saw enough of a hint on blood pressure and arterial stiffness to call for future trials on it — a reason to keep studying, not a result to act on.
No NAD+ product is FDA-approved for energy, longevity or fatigue. Injectable NAD+ is supplied through compounding, and its status for pharmacy compounding has been contested rather than settled.
Sources
- Conze et al. (2019), Scientific Reports — 100, 300 and 1,000 mg/day nicotinamide riboside raised whole-blood NAD+ dose-dependently over 8 weeks (ChromaDex-funded; the authors are employees or advisers)
- Martens et al. (2018), Nature Communications — chronic nicotinamide riboside supplementation is well-tolerated and elevates NAD+ in healthy middle-aged and older adults; the authors call for future trials on blood pressure and arterial stiffness
- Grant et al. (2019), Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience — plasma and urine NAD+ metabolome during a 6-hour intravenous NAD+ infusion; the only human pharmacokinetic data on infused NAD+
- Yu et al. (2026), American Journal of Cardiovascular Drugs — randomised trial of IV NAD+ at 10 mg/day for 7 days in heart failure from ischaemic cardiomyopathy
- Trammell et al. (2016), Nature Communications — nicotinamide riboside is uniquely and orally bioavailable in mice and humans
- Airhart et al. (2017), PLoS ONE — open-label pharmacokinetics of oral nicotinamide riboside
Related Dosage Charts
Where to get NAD+ with a prescription
NAD+ requires a prescription and medical supervision. Each service below states that a licensed provider reviews your intake and prescribes through a US compounding pharmacy where appropriate. Those are the companies’ own descriptions of how they operate, not findings of ours. Compounded medications are not FDA-approved, and a consultation does not guarantee a prescription.
Some telehealth links below are affiliate links. If you buy through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Commission never affects which products or clinics we list, how they are ordered, or what we say about them — see our editorial policy.
Says a board-certified physician reviews each intake and prescribes through a licensed 503A compounding pharmacy where appropriate, and lists a LegitScript certification. Compounded medications are not FDA-approved.
We are not a clinic and do not prescribe. Listing a service here is not a clinical endorsement of it, and you should confirm licensure and pharmacy sourcing yourself before treatment.
Want the full NAD+ guide?
Mechanism, clinical evidence, side effects, costs, and provider listings for NAD+ therapy.
Medical Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare provider before beginning any peptide therapy treatment.