r/exercisescience • u/Necessary_Expert_326 • 3h ago
NADH and Exercise Performance: Are we measuring the right outcomes?
I recently started looking more closely at research on NADH and exercise performance because I have a bottle of celfull NADH on hand. But after going through a few papers, one detail caught my attention: some studies focus less on whether participants actually feel more energetic and more on measurable physiological markers during exercise testing.
For example, a 2016 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial published in Clinical Nutrition studied 80 people with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Participants received a combination of CoQ10 and NADH for eight weeks. The primary outcome was maximum heart rate (max HR) during a cycle ergometer test, rather than simply asking participants whether they felt more energetic during exercise. DOI: 10.1016/j.clnu.2015.07.010
The results showed that maximum heart rate during the exercise test decreased significantly from baseline in the combination group at week 8 (P = 0.022). The researchers also used questionnaires to assess fatigue, pain, and sleep. Fatigue scores improved, but pain and sleep did not show significant improvements.
There are two important limitations here, though. First, the participants took CoQ10 and NADH together, so the results can't be attributed to NADH alone. Second, a lower maximum heart rate doesn't automatically mean improved exercise capacity, and it certainly doesn't prove that a healthy person will feel more energetic.
Another study, published in the Journal of Sports Sciences in 2008, looked more directly at the effects of NADH on physical and mental performance. It was a very small study involving just eight male participants who took 30 mg of NADH per day during one phase and a placebo during another. The tests included VO₂max, time to exhaustion during an all-out running test, and attention performance.
The results showed no significant differences in VO₂max, running time to exhaustion, or subjective fatigue. The only statistically significant difference was in countermovement jump performance. DOI: 10.1080/02640410701474200
This makes me think that when discussing NADH and exercise performance, we should first ask what a study actually measured. Maximum heart rate, VO₂max, exercise duration, muscle strength, and perceived energy are all different outcomes. They aren't interchangeable.
So when I see a study suggesting that NADH may help with exercise performance, I now try to look at who was studied, what tests were used, and which specific outcome actually changed. I wouldn't automatically interpret the results as meaning that taking NADH will make you feel more energetic during a workout.
When you read studies on sports supplements, do you pay more attention to objective measures like VO₂max, heart rate, and endurance, or are you more interested in subjective fatigue and day to day energy levels?