NAD+ in Canada: The Coenzyme, Not a Peptide

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide is a coenzyme composed of two nucleotides joined through their phosphate groups: one bearing adenine, the other nicotinamide. It cycles between an oxidized form (NAD+) and a reduced form (NADH), and that cycling is the central electron-transfer currency of cellular metabolism.

Beyond redox chemistry, NAD+ is a consumed substrate rather than merely a cofactor for three enzyme families: the sirtuins, the PARPs, and the CD38/CD157 ectoenzymes. Because those enzymes cleave NAD+ rather than recycle it, cellular NAD+ has to be continuously resynthesized, and the balance between consumption and synthesis is what the ageing literature is about.[3]

Research Material

A 663 Da dinucleotide. There is no amino-acid sequence, so there is no chain diagram: this is a small molecule, produced by enzymatic or chemical synthesis rather than by solid-phase peptide synthesis, and its impurity profile is entirely different from a peptide's.

Chemical Structure

The literature divides cleanly into two parts, and conflating them is the standard error in NAD+ marketing.

Part one, which is settled: NAD+ is essential to metabolism, cellular NAD+ declines with age across tissues and species, and that decline is associated with mitochondrial and metabolic dysfunction. Covarrubias et al. (2021) review this in detail.[3] Cantó et al. (2015) cover the energy-homeostasis side.[4]

Part two, which is not settled: whether raising NAD+ by administering precursors or NAD+ itself produces meaningful outcomes. Rajman et al. (2018) review the in-vivo evidence for NAD-boosting molecules and are explicit that the animal data are considerably stronger than the human data.[1] Yoshino et al. (2018) cover the precursor biology, NMN and NR, and the same gap.[2]

Human trials of NAD+ precursors have generally shown that circulating NAD+ metabolites can be raised. Demonstrating a clinical outcome from having raised them is a separate question that the published trials have largely not answered. Direct NAD+ administration has a much thinner human literature than the precursors do.

There is a specific pharmacological problem worth stating: NAD+ is a large, charged molecule that does not readily cross cell membranes intact, and much of what is administered is degraded extracellularly to precursors that are then taken up. Whether "NAD+ administration" is meaningfully different from precursor administration is an open question in the literature, not a settled one.

NAD+ is not authorized by Health Canada as a medicine for human or veterinary use. Nicotinamide and some NAD+ precursors appear in the natural health product framework under separate rules, which do not extend to research material supplied in vials. NAD+ was not among the peptides considered by the US FDA advisory committee in July 2026. Eppix supplies it as a laboratory research material only.

A peptide certificate reports HPLC purity as area percent against a single peptide analyte. NAD+ certificates commonly report measured content against the labelled amount instead, and that is not an omission: NAD+ is hygroscopic, degrades in solution, and its relevant quality question is how much intact NAD+ is in the vial rather than what fraction of a synthesis product it represents.

What to check: batch number matching the vial, a named laboratory with an independent verification path, identity confirmed, and measured content against label. If a supplier presents a peptide-style purity figure for NAD+ without explaining the method, ask what analyte it was measured against.

Published Certificate

Select strength

500mg1000mg

Batch

NAD-CA-26F-500

Purity (HPLC)

Not reported

Measured content

512.17 mglabelled 500 mg

Laboratory

Janoshik

Verify on the lab’s own databaseAll published certificates

Domestic fulfilment is by Canada Post Xpresspost, typically one to two days nationwide, free over $200, with an Interac e-Transfer discount and mix-and-match pricing at 5 and 10 vials.

NAD+ is more hygroscopic and less stable in solution than most peptides in the catalogue, so the handling notes in the peptide storage guide apply with less margin.

Available at Eppix Labs

Buy NAD+ Canada | 500mg & 1000mg Vials

500mg · 1000mg

Every batch tested by an independent laboratory, with the certificate published before sale.

From $50.00 CADIn stock