A human brain is the most baffling organ of our bodies. The weight of the brain is only 2% of the total body but uses 20% of energy. It consumes energy as much as used by all muscles in the human body. Incidentally, the brain gets smaller approximately  0.2% per year starting at 20 years old.  At around 24, the brain is past its prime that the cognitive motor skills slowly begin to dimish. This raises the risk of cognitive disorder such as dementia with aging. Despite the inevitable decline, you can compensate the process to an extent by developing your own anti-aging strategies. Please make sure that the strategies address all the leading instigators of aging,e.g., chronic stress, depression, sedentary lifestyle and poor diet.

The new compounding nasal spray, Synapsin is a prescription supplement that comes with two major ingredients; Nicotinamide riboside(NR), a precursor form of vitamin B3 and ginseng(G3). It furnishes the nutrients that may provide neuroprotection of brain cells by improving mitochondrial functioning, cardiovascular health, and cellular metabolism.

Some tips for your brain are below;

Chronic Stress

Although Stress is a natural part of life, it can damage the synapses that exchange information between neurons, leading to dementia risk. Cortisol secreted by adrenal gland when stress out disrupts learning ability and dampens memory. If the cortisol overload in response to stress continues for a prolonged period, it may cause impaired immunity, weight gain, depression, and anxiety.  Both Vitamin B3 and Ginseng has been known to alleviate stress-related symptoms.

Emotions 

 Emotions are associated with the limbic system which is located beneath the cerebral cortex.  The limbic system is the one that responsible for how we feel. It also stores long term memory of past experiences. Regardless of its cause, a constant negative emotional state is clearly not conducive to the limbic system to store information.  Nicotinamide riboside, a precursor of Vitamin B3 may work as a mood stabilizer by preventing NAD+ Depletion and anti-inflammatory effect. 

Exercise

Not surprisingly, regular exercise stimulates brain cells to regenerate neurons in a brain. In the clinical trial for the elderly, the elderly who exercise showed higher scores in the cognitive function test than the elderly who did not. In addition, exercise does prevent other life-threatening diseases like stroke or diabetes, which can cause serious damage to the brain. Supplementation with Vitamin B and ginseng can enhance your performance to meet the goal. 

Synapsin Nasal Spray

Synapsin is a prescription supplement that has not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, nor intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

Synapsin is required to “boost” memory strength for highly salient events

No medical claims about the supplement were made in this article.  Synapsin is commonly used in combination with methylcobalamin or hydroxocobalamin dependent on the formulation by your provider.

To find a functional medicine doctor in your area, see The Institute for Functional Medicine and A4M  links below. If you need further personal assistance feel free to call us at 1-800-878-1322.

References and Recommended Reading

1. Rennie, Andrew C Chen, Haryana Dhillon, et al.  Nicotinamide and neurocognitive function
Nutritional Neuroscience Vol. 18, Iss. 5,2015.

2.Kennedy DO, Scholey AB. Ginseng: potential for the enhancement of cognitive performance and mood. Pharmacol Biochem Behav 2003;75:687-700.

3. Chi Y, Sauve AA. Nicotinamide riboside, a trace nutrient in foods, is a vitamin B3 with effects on energy metabolism and neuroprotection. Curr Opin Clin Nutr Metab Care. 2013 Nov;16(6):657-61.

4. Choi JY, Woo TS, Yoon SY, et al. Red Ginseng Supplementation More Effectively Alleviates Psychological than Physical Fatigue. Journal of Ginseng Research. 2011;35(3):331-338. doi:10.5142/jgr.2011.35.3.331.

5. Antidepressants may lead to a decrease in niacin and NAD in patients with poor dietary intake
Viljoen, Margaretha et al.
Medical Hypotheses, Volume 84, Issue 3, 178 - 182

6.Liu D, Gharavi R, Pitta M, Gleichmann M, Mattson MP. Nicotinamide Prevents NAD+ Depletion and Protects Neurons Against Excitotoxicity and Cerebral Ischemia: NAD+ Consumption by SIRT1 may Endanger Energetically Compromised Neurons. Neuromolecular medicine. 2009;11(1):28-42. doi:10.1007/s12017-009-8058-1.

7. Attele AS, Zhou YP, Xie JT, Wu JA, Zhang L, Dey L, Pugh W, Rue PA, Polonsky KS, Yuan CS. Antidiabetic effects of Panax ginseng berry extract and the identification of an effective component. Diabetes 2002;51:1851-1858.

8 Lee WK, Kao ST, Liu IM, Cheng JT. Ginsenoside Rh2 is one of the active principles of Panax ginseng root to improve insulin sensitivity in fructose-rich chow-fed rats. Horm Metab Res 2007;39:347-354.

9.Yoshino J, Mills KF, Yoon MJ, Imai S. Nicotinamide mononucleotide, a key NAD⁺intermediate, treats the pathophysiology of diet- and age-induced diabetes in mice. Cell metabolism. 2011;14(4):528-536. doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2011.08.014.

10. Garten A, Petzold S, Körner A, Imai S, Kiess W. Nampt: Linking NAD biology, metabolism, and cancer. Trends in endocrinology and metabolism: TEM. 2009;20(3):130-138. doi:10.1016/j.tem.2008.10.004.

11.Garten, Antje, et al. “Physiological and pathophysiological roles of NAMPT and NAD metabolism.” Nature Reviews Endocrinology 11.9 (2015): 535-546.

12.Brown KD, Maqsood S, Huang J-Y, et al. Activation of SIRT3 by the NAD⁺precursor nicotinamide riboside protects from noise-induced hearing loss. Cell metabolism. 2014;20(6):1059-1068. doi:10.1016/j.cmet.2014.11.003.

13.Han C, Someya S. Maintaining good hearing: Calorie restriction, Sirt3, and glutathione. Experimental gerontology. 2013;48(10):1091-1095. doi:10.1016/j.exger.2013.02.014.

14.Massudi H, Grant R, Braidy N, Guest J, Farnsworth B, Guillemin GJ (2012) Age-Associated Changes In Oxidative Stress and NAD⁺ Metabolism In Human Tissue. PLoS ONE 7(7): e42357. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0042357