NMN supplements are still relatively new in Hong Kong, according to James Ng, who is business development manager at the Hong Kong-based company
“The NMN market is growing and we believe there will be enormous demand for NMN supplements, however consumer awareness is relatively weak in Hong Kong.
“NMN supplements requires education, knowledge and exposure so that’s why we are opening our first brick-and-mortar store in Hong Kong this month, it is an experience centre where we can educate users on the benefits of NMN.”
Ng said companies making NMN supplements typically sell their products online because setting up a physical outlet is costly, and most are not willing to invest.
“Education is so important for us, we want our customers to know what they’re ingesting and give them confidence in our product.”
Marketing-wise, the firm actively posts on its social media sites on its products as well as lifestyle tips to engage users.
Not just an anti-ageing product
While typically associated for its anti-ageing benefits, the firm wants people to know NMN is more than that. It is about the body organs and systems functioning at an optimal state.
NMN works by increasing nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) levels, which is an essential coenzyme required for life and cellular functions and involved in DNA repair.
As people age, NAD+ levels tend to decrease, and animal studies have shown restoring NAD+ levels can promote better health in cognition, heart, and metabolic disorders.
According to Ng, people in their 40s have half the NAD+ levels compared to their 20s.
In humans, trials have been conducted on NMN and nicotinamide riboside (NR) to primarily assess safety and bioavailability.
NR works the same way as NMN in that it increases NAD+, and there are some companies producing NR supplements. However, NR requires conversion to NMN before it can be converted to NAD+. Ng said the firm chose NMN because it is the immediate precursor to NAD+.
The benefits of NMN affect the whole body from the brain and nervous system, liver, heart, kidney, to muscle, so the firm is targeting users from their late 20s onwards.
“Every individual is different depending on your lifestyle. For example, people living in cities typically have high levels of stress, which affects their sleep quality. It doesn’t help that they also drink and their diets are not healthy, we call this the urban disease.”
“We would recommend these people to try our product to tweak their bodies in the most optimal way and ultimately it can help improve sleep which is something they can feel.”
Next Miracle Nutrient’s supplement contains 250mg of NMN per capsule.
According to Ng, this dose is higher compared to other NMN products which typically contain 150mg to 200mg per capsule.
He said Next Miracle Nutrient’s NMN supplement is equivalent of consuming 400 broccoli.
During R&D, the firm also made smaller capsule sizes which they found was easier to ingest and better for digestion.
In addition, its capsules are vegan-friendly, made from hydroxypropyl methylcellulose, produced from cellulose, a natural polymer and fibre.
“We wanted to ensure that even our vegans consumers feel comfortable taking our product,” Ng said.
Sales channels
The supplements are manufactured in the US and shipped to Hong Kong.
They are currently sold on online sites including HKTV mall, Carousell, and bigbigshop in Hong Kong. There are plans to launch its e-commerce store and on Amazon for global customers.
For the firm which first launched the supplement in mid-2020, Hong Kong and China remains its priority markets.
According to Ng, the firm’s business grew about 20% in its first year, “We initially started marketing the product to friends and family, and now we are expanding rapidly to the public. We are quite confident that we will grow as we put more resources into it.”
The firm’s name Next Miracle Nutrient, when shorten is also NMN.