NAD IV therapy is sold as a drip for energy, focus and aging. NAD+ is a molecule every cell uses to make energy, and levels fall with age. [4] The pitch is that an infusion puts it straight into the blood. The research asks a simpler question first: what happens to it once it gets there?
This page covers the studies of NAD+ given by vein. Shots under the skin are covered in NAD+ injections, and sprays in NAD nasal spray, and skin patches in NAD patches. NAD+ sits under the longevity goal here.
What a drip does to NAD+ in the blood
The first study to track infused NAD+ in people gave it at a steady rate for 6 hours [1]. The researchers measured NAD+ and its breakdown products in blood and urine.
The result surprised them. For the first 2 hours, blood NAD+ did not rise at all. The authors concluded the body removed it rapidly and completely at first. Only later did levels climb.
The breakdown products told the rest. NAD+ was being split apart by enzymes, and NAD+ itself and a related product showed up in urine by 6 hours. It was a pilot study of a single infusion, and it did not measure any health outcome.
What people felt during the drip
A 2026 review of medical records from a commercial clinic compared two drips [2]. Clients received 500 mg of NAD+ or of nicotinamide riboside, a building block of NAD+. Each had a drip on four days in a row, with 30 days of follow-up.
The NAD+ group reported moderate to severe stomach symptoms, a faster heartbeat and chest pressure during the infusions. The other group reported mild tingling and cramping. All symptoms stopped when the drip ended.
Those symptoms made the NAD+ drips longer: 97 minutes on average, against 37 minutes for the comparison drip. Liver, kidney, thyroid and inflammation markers did not change in either group.
| Study | What was given | What it measured |
|---|---|---|
| 6-hour infusion pilot | One NAD+ infusion over 6 hours | NAD+ and breakdown products in blood and urine |
| Commercial clinic records | 500 mg NAD+ a day for 4 days | Symptoms, infusion time, blood tests over 30 days |
| Heart failure trial (n=180) | 10 mg NAD+ a day for 7 days, or placebo | Heart pumping function at 1 month |
A randomized trial, in heart failure
A randomized, placebo-controlled trial of NAD+ by vein has been run in heart disease rather than wellness. It enrolled 180 adults with heart failure from narrowed heart arteries [3]. They got 10 mg of NAD+ a day, or placebo, by vein for 7 days, on top of standard care.
After a month, the heart’s pumping fraction was 45.44% in the NAD+ group and 42.44% on placebo. Heart events over 6 months were 14.6% against 24.7%, a difference that did not reach significance.
That trial is about sick hearts in a hospital, not healthy people at a drip bar. Its dose was 10 mg a day, a small fraction of the 500 mg drips in the clinic review.
What the reviews conclude
A 2026 systematic review searched human and rodent studies of NAD+ and its building blocks from 2010 to October 2025 [4]. It found 33 human intervention studies, 28 of them randomized.
It found no outcome trial of NAD+ itself by vein or by injection for anti-aging or wellness. It identified one IV NAD+ blood-level pilot, and counted it as background only.
A second 2026 review of IV longevity drips reached a similar view [5]. It called placebo-controlled trials scarce and underpowered. It concluded that these drips should be treated as experimental, not as evidence-based anti-aging care.
Why a clinic can offer it
NAD+ is on the FDA’s Category 1 list of bulk substances under evaluation for compounding, in the update dated May 14, 2026 [6]. That listing lets pharmacies compound it while the FDA reviews it. It is not an FDA approval, and no NAD+ drip has one.
What to ask before a drip
Ask what dose you will get and over how long. In the clinic review, symptoms during the drip are what made it longer. Ask what the clinic does if symptoms start.
Then weigh what you are paying for. No trial shows a drip makes you feel or age differently. The side effects across every route are gathered in NAD side effects.
If you would rather avoid a drip, Breeze Meds sells NAD+ as a weekly injection or a nasal spray, and its review covers what it claims.