Kelly Slater is your pusher man. Photo: Tru Niagen
Kelly Slater is something of an anomaly. He’s 54 years old now, but you wouldn’t know it by looking at him. He’s still swinging for the fences, making show-stopping performances at some of the most challenging waves on the planet. He seems to defy age, and recently he partnered with Tru Niagen, an anti-aging supplement that has been gaining steam in recent years.
Now, it should be stated here at the beginning that Tru Niagen may not actually make you age backwards. Anything that claims is does (so far, anyway) has not been proven to do what it says. Tru Niagen does increase your levels of something called NAD (Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, for you scientists), which according to the Cleveland Clinic, is “a critical coenzyme found in every living cell that drives cellular energy production and metabolic health.”
NAD+ is simply NAD, but in an oxygenated form that is ready to accept electrons during chemical reactions. We make it in our bodies using vitamin B3 and tryptophan, the same amino acid that everyone says makes you sleepy after Thanksgiving dinner (that’s a myth, by the way). It is true that it is incredibly important, and it is true that we make less of it as we age, but there are no peer reviewed studies that can definitively prove “actual clinical benefits for human healthspan, longevity, or reversing aging.”
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But for Kelly Slater, a man who seemingly has slowed down the process of aging, it’s not about literally getting younger.
“I’ve spent a lot of my life chasing waves, competing, traveling, and doing the things that keep me active. Aging has made me think more about how I want the years ahead to look,” he wrote. “Don’t get old. Age better. It isn’t about trying to stop the clock. It’s thinking differently about what getting older can mean and staying open to what’s still ahead.”
While Kelly has never been afraid to promote and use products that make huge claims without real scientific evidence from established researchers, whatever he’s doing is working for him. Whether that’s because he’s lived an active, healthy life, because of the supplements he takes , or a bit of both, we’ll likely never know.
