This article prompted me to research and write a plea for my friends to take this supplement (I've been on it for a few months, before that took Nicotinamide Riboside, NMN's precursor):

Please consider taking NMN for health and longevity. Nicotinamide Mononucleotide (NMN) is a direct precursor of NAD+ which broadly activates/energizes the Sirtuin pathways. Previous interventions either activated only one of these pathways[1] or activated them less effectively[2].

Why all the fuss about Sirtuin pathways? Well, it makes sense that your body would have a built-in maintenance system, right? It seems the seven Sirtuins are that.

Take SIRT6, for example. Evidence points to
it being essential to / directly enabling DNA repair[3], and telomere maintenance[4], while reducing gluconeogensis[5] and inflammation.

SIRT2 supports insulin sensitivity through multiple pathways[6], and helps regulate proper cell division, i.e. in the ordinary case, helps prevent the formation of tumors[7].
IMPORTANT NOTE This may only be beneficial if you don't already have cancer - in the other case more SIRT2 could help to stabilize your cancer cells in their division and increase proliferation.[8] So please, talk to your doctor.

One more, because I'm enjoying this: for SIRT3, researchers studied a population and found that genes enhancing its production where "virtually absent" in men older than 90.[9] Mice bred to lack SIRT3 developed breast cancer, and the researchers proposed "that SIRT3 is ideally situated to function as a mitochondrial fidelity protein, and by extension, loss of function could result in a damage permissive and tumorigenic cellular environment" [10]

That's three of seven. Other multi-SIRT effects include:

* possibly preventing stroke and improving recovery in its aftermath [11]

* being essential to retinal function / vision [12]

So Sirtuins are important, and they're powered by NAD+, but NAD+ availability declines as we age, reducing their ability to play that role, and contributing to consequent decline and dysfunction with age. Supplementing NMN helps offset that decline, to keep those systems working as they should.

So I'm calling it here.
My best minimal health / longevity stack is:
NMN, Kado-3, and Magnesium.

If you want to add another for good measure, look at bioflavonoids Quercetin or Apigenin, both inhibitors of CD38, one probable cause of age-related NAD+ decline.[13]

Thanks for reading.
Live long and prosper.

Disclaimer: I'm an engineer, not a scientist or a doctor, so my preference is to support actions which I expect to work, rather than ones which I know with certainty will work. Ergo, this is not medical advice, this is my judgment based on my limited and potentially misguided analysis of the human body as a system.

Footnotes:

[1] As with Resveratrol, which activates SIRT1

[2] As with Nicotinamide Riboside, which is the precursor to NMN and externally mediated by NAMPT, etc. NMN needs no co-factor.

[3] "SIRT6 is [...] is required for normal base excision repair of DNA damage in mammalian cells. Deficiency of SIRT6 in mice leads to abnormalities that overlap with aging-associated degenerative processes."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirtuin_6

[4] "We propose that SIRT6 contributes to the propagation of a specialized chromatin state at mammalian telomeres, which in turn is required for proper telomere metabolism and function. Our findings constitute the first identification of a physiological enzymatic activity of SIRT6, and link chromatin regulation by SIRT6 to telomere maintenance and a human premature ageing syndrome."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18337721

[5] As with Metformin, which has evidence for longevity effects.

[6] "SIRT2 inhibits adipogenesis by deacetylating FOXO1 and thus may protect against insulin resistance. SIRT2 sensitizes cells to the action of insulin by physically interacting with and activating Akt and downstream targets."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirtuin_2

[7] "SirT2-deficient animals exhibit genomic instability and chromosomal aberrations and are prone to tumorigenesis"
http://genesdev.cshlp.org/content/early/2013/03/04/gad.21134...

[8] "Our data suggest that SIRT2 is the sirtuin predominantly involved in breast tumourigenesis and prognosis. It indicates that SIRT2 acts as a tumour suppressor or tumour promoter dependent upon breast tumour grade."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24183459

[9] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S088875430...

[10] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3711519/

[11] "NMN and NAD treatment also enhanced proliferation and differentiation of cultured neural stem cells in vitro. Knockdown of sirtuin deacetylases (SIRT1, SIRT2, or SIRT6) significantly reduced the proneuro-genesis effect[...]. Thus, we provide the first evidence that Nampt–NAD cascade is not only crucial against acute brain ischemic injury but also important for postischemic regeneration." http://stroke.ahajournals.org/content/strokeaha/46/7/1966.fu...

[12] "We further demonstrate that the NAD+-dependent mitochondrial deacylases SIRT3/SIRT5 play important roles in retinal homeostasis and that NAD+ deficiency causes SIRT3 dysfunction. These findings demonstrate that NAD+ biosynthesis is essential for vision"
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5104206/

[13] "These findings suggest that the efficacy of NAD+ precursors may be enhanced by co-supplementation with CD38 inhibitors"
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S155041311... http://www.timelesslifemag.com/index.php/2016/06/29/querceti...