Red Light Therapy and Fertility: Can Light and NAD⁺ Injections Work Together to Support Egg Quality?

If you’re here reading my blog you probably already have a shelf full of supplements.

A prenatal (with folate). CoQ10. Vitamin D, Omega-3. Perhaps something recommended by your clinic, something mentioned in a support group, and something you bought after another disappointing appointment.

Then you hear about NAD⁺ injections.

They’re being promoted for cellular energy, healthy aging and egg quality. If you’ve also been looking into red light therapy you might wonder whether they work in similar ways - and whether you should be doing both.

The science is interesting. But the most important distinction is between a treatment that affects cells and one that has been shown to help women have babies. Those are not always the same thing.

How many women use supplements during fertility treatment?

Supplement use is common among women seeking fertility care (partners should have a basic supplement stack too).

A 2026 study of 2,370 couples found that 67% of women were taking a multivitamin at the start of the study. That tells us supplements are already part of many women’s routines, although a multivitamin is not the same as a long list of fertility add-ons.

A separate study, published in 2025, looked at 369 supplement-related posts in an online IVF community. Researchers found that:

• About 76% of the post authors reported taking supplements.

• About 53% reported taking two or more.

• The most frequently mentioned products included CoQ10, vitamin D, omega-3s, DHEA and myo-inositol.

There is an important catch: the researchers deliberately selected posts about supplements. These figures do not mean that 76% of all IVF patients take them. They show what was happening within a group already discussing the subject.

The posts also revealed something that numbers alone can’t capture: women wanted guidance. They were asking what to add, whether products could be combined, and when to start or stop them around treatment. Some described side effects, expense and the sheer burden of taking so many pills.

If that sounds familiar, you are not the only one trying to make sense of it all.

Are NAD⁺ injections becoming more popular for fertility?

NAD⁺ has entered the fertility conversation and is causing some fertility supplement FOMO.

In that online IVF study, NAD⁺-related products appeared in 24 of the 369 posts. However, the researchers grouped different NAD⁺ formulations together.

Clinics have also publicly marketed NAD⁺ injections for fertility and egg quality. That documents availability and promotion - not how many women receive them or whether they work.

I haven’t been able to find reliable published figures showing what percentage of fertility patients use NAD⁺ injections, or how quickly that number is growing but I’m seeing NAD+ injections pop up in my health history assessments more frequently. (Please be sure to include any injectables in the health history assessment I send you as there are specific timings for laser and those injections).

What is NAD⁺?

NAD⁺ stands for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide.

You don’t need to remember that name. What matters is its job.

NAD⁺ is a little helper molecule that your cells need to work properly. It helps them turn the food you eat into usable energy. It also supports processes involved in DNA repair and the way cells respond to stress. Your body makes and recycles it naturally.

This matters to fertility because an egg cell needs energy to mature, handle its chromosomes correctly and support the earliest stages of development after fertilization. NAD⁺ is part of that biology.

But “egg cells need NAD⁺” does not automatically mean “every woman needs extra NAD⁺.”

It is the same distinction we make with other nutrients: knowing that something is essential does not tell us that taking more will improve an outcome.

What does “precursor” mean?

A precursor is a starting material your body uses to make something else.

Think of an ingredient in a recipe. The ingredient is not the finished dish, but your body can use it to help make the finished product.

An NAD⁺ precursor is a substance your body can use to produce NAD⁺. Two that you may see on supplement labels are:

• NMN: nicotinamide mononucleotide.

• NR: nicotinamide riboside.

NMN is a molecule that occurs naturally in the body and is involved in making NAD⁺. NR can also feed into this production pathway. Neither is the same thing as an injection containing NAD⁺ itself.

That difference matters when reading research. A study of oral NMN does not establish that NAD⁺ injections have the same effects.

Why are researchers interested in NAD⁺ and egg quality?

Studies in animals have linked reproductive aging with changes in ovarian NAD⁺ availability and mitochondrial function. Mitochondria are the structures inside cells that produce much of their usable energy.

In a widely cited 2020 study, researchers gave NMN to older female mice. They found improvements in egg quality and fertility, including a greater proportion of animals achieving a live birth during the breeding study.

Those findings deserve attention. They give researchers a reason to investigate whether a similar approach could help women.

They do not prove that NMN reverses human egg aging - or that an NAD⁺ injection improves a woman’s chance of having a baby.

The species, product, dose and route of treatment all matter.

Have there been any studies in women?

There is early human research, but it is not yet strong enough to settle the question.

A conference abstract published in 2025 described 50 women under 35 with diminished ovarian reserve, meaning their tests suggested fewer available eggs. Twenty-five received NMN alongside fertility medication, and 25 received fertility medication without NMN. The abstract reported 12 pregnancies in the NMN group and six in the comparison group.

That sounds encouraging. But there were several problems with the abstract that I won’t go into here.

The study deserves follow-up - but also to keep in mind - it studied NMN - not NAD⁺ injections. Describing it as proof that injections “double fertility” would be inaccurate.

Does an injection get NAD⁺ straight into the eggs?

That sounds like a brilliant idea, but it is not something we can assume.

Getting a substance into the bloodstream is not the same as demonstrating that it reaches an egg cell, changes its metabolism in a useful way and improves the chance of a healthy pregnancy.

A major review of NAD⁺ and ovarian function highlighted unanswered questions about how NAD⁺ and its precursors enter ovarian cells and eggs, and which forms those cells use most effectively.

“Injected” does not automatically mean better absorbed where it matters - or better proven.

What are the safety concerns with NAD⁺ injections?

One concern is the quality of the injectable product.

In 2024, the FDA warned that some compounders were using food-grade NAD⁺ ingredients to make intravenous products. Ingredients suitable for food or oral supplements are not automatically suitable for a sterile injection. Without appropriate processing, contamination with microbes or bacterial toxins can harm patients.

The FDA also reported severe chills, shaking, vomiting and fatigue after NAD⁺ injectable drugs, with some people needing medical treatment. These reactions were consistent with excessive bacterial toxins called endotoxins.

This does not mean every NAD⁺ injection is contaminated. It means sourcing and sterile preparation are serious safety issues - not minor details.

There are also unanswered questions about the best fertility dose, timing and safety around conception and pregnancy. A molecule being naturally present in the body does not establish that extra amounts, given as a treatment, are safe or helpful.

Where does red light therapy fit into this?

You may also hear the broader term photobiomodulation, or PBM, which includes certain laser and LED treatments.

PBM uses particular wavelengths and doses of light to influence cell activity. Researchers are interested in its effects on mitochondrial function, cellular signaling and the way cells respond to stress.

That creates a biological connection with NAD⁺ research: both involve aspects of cellular energy metabolism.

But they are not interchangeable treatments.

NAD⁺ precursors provide starting materials for NAD⁺ production. PBM delivers light that can affect cellular processes. We cannot assume that light “replaces” a supplement or that a supplement makes light therapy work better.

Can red light increase NAD⁺?

Laboratory and animal studies show that PBM can change measures of mitochondrial redox state - essentially, aspects of how cells handle energy-carrying electrons.

However, several studies measured fluorescence signals from NADH and another molecule called FAD. These are useful research tools, but they are not direct measurements of how much NAD⁺ a woman has in her ovaries.

Should you combine NAD⁺ injections and LLLT?

The idea may sound logical because both relate to cellular energy and if you’re about to do your final egg retrieval I know you want to throw everything including the kitchen sink at improving egg quality. But these are answers we don’t have in big studies - yet.

Does this mean fertility supplements are pointless?

No. It means they should have a clear purpose.

A supplement used to correct a deficiency is different from a product sold with a broad promise to “rejuvenate eggs.”

Bring your clinic or restorative provider a complete list of everything you take, including doses and injections. Combining products can create overlapping ingredients, side effects or interactions, and your team needs the full picture.

Ask whether each item still belongs in your plan.

You do not have to try everything

It is understandable to want to do everything possible when you are hoping for a baby.

But you deserve more than another product and another promise. You deserve to know what has been studied, what remains uncertain, and whether the possible benefit is worth the cost and burden for you.

Your job is not to build the biggest supplement collection. It is to make informed decisions with a care team that takes both your hopes and your safety seriously.

Tracy

This article provides general education, not an individual treatment plan. Discuss supplements, injections and fertility-related light treatments with your fertility clinician before starting or changing them.

Resources:

Fertility supplement use

1. Tomlinson AF, Chapalamadugu M, Hombal A, Rodriguez S, Patrizio P. Investigating perceptions and usage of fertility supplements: a mixed methods analysis of a large online forum. Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics. 2025;42:3435–3442. DOI: 10.1007/s10815-025-03625-z.
   Supports the discussion of supplement use, questions and concerns in an online IVF community. This was an analysis of supplement-related posts—not a representative survey of all IVF patients. Its NAD⁺ category does not establish injection-specific usage.link.springer+1

2. Sealy NRZ, Mumford SL, et al. Supplement use among couples seeking fertility treatment and associations with live birth and pregnancy loss. Fertility and Sterility. Published online April 2026. PMID: 42031092.
   Supports the finding that, among 2,370 couples seeking fertility treatment, 67% of female partners reported multivitamin use at baseline. This was observational evidence; it does not establish that supplements caused better outcomes.iro.uiowa+2

NAD⁺, NMN and ovarian aging

3. Bertoldo MJ, Listijono DR, Ho WJ, et al. NAD⁺ repletion rescues female fertility during reproductive aging. Cell Reports. 2020;30(6):1670–1681.e7. DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.01.058.
   

4. Cordone V, Vergara T, Falone S, Tatone C, Di Emidio G. Is NAD⁺ a key factor in ovarian aging and dysfunction? Insights and uncertainties from current research. Biology of Reproduction. 2026;114(2):463 onward. First published online July 9, 2025. DOI: 10.1093/biolre/ioaf140.
   

5. “O-217 Nicotinamide mononucleotide - a NAD⁺ precursor - a new hope for rejuvenating fertility outcome in young infertile women with diminished ovarian reserve- a retrospective analysis.” Human Reproduction. 2025;40(Supplement 1). Conference abstract O-217. DOI: 10.1093/humrep/deaf097.217.
   

NAD⁺ injection safety

6. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. FDA reminds compounders to use ingredients suitable for sterile compounding. October 30, 2024.
   Supports the discussion of unsuitable food-grade ingredients, endotoxin contamination and reported adverse reactions following NAD⁺ injectable drugs. It does not establish that all NAD⁺ injections are contaminated.fda

Red light therapy, mitochondrial function and fertility

7. Hamblin MR. Mechanisms and mitochondrial redox signaling in photobiomodulation. Photochemistry and Photobiology. 2018;94(2):199–212. DOI: 10.1111/php.12864.
   Supports the explanation of PBM mechanisms, mitochondrial activity and redox signaling. It does not demonstrate that PBM increases ovarian NAD⁺ levels or improves live-birth rates.pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih

8. Gopalakrishnan S, Mehrvar S, Maleki S, et al. Photobiomodulation preserves mitochondrial redox state and is retinoprotective in a rodent model of retinitis pigmentosa. Scientific Reports. 2020;10:20382. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-77290-w.
   

9. Phypers R, Berisha-Muharremi V, Hanna R. The efficacy of multiwavelength red and near-infrared transdermal photobiomodulation light therapy in enhancing female fertility outcomes and improving reproductive health: a prospective case series with 9-month follow-up. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2024;13(23):7101. DOI: 10.3390/jcm13237101.