What are these crystals in my vial?

Crystallisation of your solution is caused by supersaturation.

What is supersaturation?

Supersaturation is a non-equilibrium, physical state in which a solution contains more solute than the equilibrium solubility allows, given conditions such as the temperature, humidity, and pressure of the system.

You could say, that our product is so pure, and not over-diluted, that even the product itself is surprised!

What causes supersaturation?

The best resting state of the NAD+ product, for optimum durability, is to be cold. For this reason we store NAD+ in a laboratory-grade freezer until it is ready to be shipped. When mixing solution is added to the vial, this happens in an environment that is warmer than a freezer (i.e. at an elevated temperature). It is then cooled again during shipping, and/or upon arrival with you, when you place it in the refrigerator.

As the temperature is reduced, the product can enter into a metastable supersaturated state, and then during continued cooling, the metastable limit may be reached.

This is when "nucleation" may occur, causing crystallisation. You may have fewer larger crystals, or more numerous but smaller crystals, depending on the precise conditions. 

A good example to help understand how this works is to look at the weather:

• Water evaporates and enters the air as water vapour.
• The air cools down and the water forms into water droplets, which gather to form clouds.
• As the water droplets get bigger and heavier, the air becomes saturated, and the droplets begin to fall as rain.
• Under the right temperature and pressure conditions, the rain crystallises and becomes snow.
• Note how this is a physical change only, not a chemical change. When the conditions change again, the snow melts and returns to water.

What can I do about it?

Because the supersaturation is a result of many combining, variable factors, it is difficult to pinpoint exactly when it may or may not occur. It depends on the product solubility, quantity of solution, temperature, humidity, and pressure conditions.

A regular (e.g. bi-daily) swirling movement of the vial can help prevent crystallisation from occurring.

If crystallisation has already occurred, remove the vial from the refrigerator and allow it to reach room temperature, then swirl gently to dissolve the crystals.

A final option would be to dilute the mixed NAD+ vial with additional mixing solution. Note that additional dilution will have an effect on how much solution you need to use to maintain your daily dose.

If additional dilution may prevent supersaturation, why is this not done by default?

Our vials of NAD+ contain 500mg of product. As the perfect dose is 50mg, this equates to 10 x doses per vial. By mixing with 2.5ml of mixing solution, this results is each dose requiring 0.25ml, which is the perfect amount for a 0.3ml dosing syringe.

If the vial were premixed with more solution, let's say 5ml, it is true that there would be less risk of supersaturation occurring. But it is also true that each dose of 50mg would then be 0.5ml of solution, which would require larger syringes, and more solution being injected (if using the SubQ administration route), or double the amount of sprays (if using the nasal administration route).

For this reason, we go with the former option, and as supersaturation is completely harmless and only occurs under a precise set of conditions, it is easier to resolve in this minority of instances.