NAD+ On Arrival: What to Check and Do First

When an NAD+ order arrives, check that each vial’s seal and cap are intact and that the contents look like a dry white cake or powder, then put the sealed vials in the fridge for everyday storage or the freezer for long-term holding. Dry NAD+ is far more stable than any solution of it, so the sealed vial does not need an ice pack in transit. The ready-mixed spray is different and goes straight into the fridge.

Why NAD+ travels without ice

A lyophilised vial contains NAD+ as a freeze-dried cake with almost no water. Its main breakdown route, hydrolysis at the bond joining nicotinamide to its ribose, needs water to proceed. In a dry, sealed vial that route has very little to work with.

The other accelerators of NAD+ loss are also absent in a sealed vial: there is no buffer, and nothing alkaline, to speed base-catalysed degradation (Wolfe et al., Molecules, 2024), and no microbes or enzymes to cut it. Because NAD+ is not a peptide, the oxidation and deamidation that make some peptides sensitive to warmth and air do not apply either.

Every Vistara Labs order ships from within Canada by Canada Post Xpresspost, so the vials stay in the domestic network without a customs hold. A few days at room temperature in transit is not a concern for the sealed vial. An ice pack would add condensation risk inside the parcel, and condensation is the one thing a hygroscopic powder should be kept away from.

What to check, vial by vial

The seal and cap

Each vial should have its crimped aluminium seal intact and the plastic flip-off cap in place over the rubber stopper. The cap protects the stopper surface from dust and handling. A cap that has popped off in transit does not by itself mean the vial is open; the crimp and stopper are the actual closure. If the crimp is loose or the stopper is visibly pushed in or pierced, contact us before using the vial. For NAD+ an intact seal matters more than usual, because PubChem describes the solid as highly hygroscopic (CID 5892) and a failed seal lets humid air reach it.

The glass

Look for cracks or chips, especially around the neck. Intact glass and an intact crimp mean the vial is sealed.

The cake or powder

Lyophilised NAD+ is a white powder. A 500 mg fill is much more material than a peptide vial holds, so expect a larger cake. It is normal for:

• the cake to have shrunk away from the glass or cracked into pieces;
• the cake to have broken up into loose powder that moves when the vial is tilted;
• powder to be scattered up the walls or on the underside of the stopper after travel.

None of these affect the material. Freeze-dried cakes are fragile and shift with handling. Tap the vial gently on the bench to settle the powder before reconstituting.

What would warrant a question is a cake that looks wet, sticky or collapsed into a glassy film, or that has a yellow or brown tint. A hygroscopic powder that has taken up moisture tends to clump and shrink into a sticky mass, so for NAD+ this is the main sign to look for.

The nasal spray

The NAD+ Nasal Spray arrives ready-mixed in saline in a sealed metered pump. Because it is already a concentrated solution, it goes into the fridge upright as soon as it arrives, capped and away from light. See how to store a peptide nasal spray, which applies to NAD+ as well.

What to do first

1. Leave the vials sealed. Do not open or reconstitute a vial until it is needed. The dry, sealed cake is the most stable form NAD+ will ever be in.
2. Decide fridge or freezer. Vials for everyday use go in the fridge at 2 to 8 °C. Vials to be held long term go in the freezer. The guidance is on how long NAD+ lasts.
3. Keep them boxed, dry and dark. Store vials in their box in the main body of the fridge or freezer, not in the door.
4. Store the bacteriostatic water separately. Unopened bacteriostatic water keeps at room temperature; once its stopper has been pierced it is kept cool and used within its own window.
5. When you are ready to mix, let the vial warm to room temperature before piercing it so condensation does not form on the powder. The method is on the NAD+ handling page and the volumes on the NAD+ reconstitution page.

If the parcel sat somewhere warm

A parcel left in a mailbox or a warm vehicle for an afternoon is not a problem for a sealed lyophilised NAD+ vial, for the reasons above. Move the vials to cold storage when you get them and proceed as normal. The ready-mixed spray, or any mixed vial, is different: heat is one of the two main accelerators of NAD+ breakdown in solution, alongside alkaline pH, so those are refrigerated promptly.

More on NAD+

How NAD+ holds up over time is on the NAD+ stability page. Our certificates are on the lab reports page.