Double Wood Nicotinamide Riboside Review: NR Malate, Explained

Written by the Nuvirox Research Team

Short answer: Double Wood's NR is a reasonably priced, well-manufactured product built on a plausible but less-studied salt form of nicotinamide riboside, which makes it a solid value option with one open question the marketing doesn't address. Double Wood Supplements is a budget-oriented brand that sells both nicotinamide riboside (NR) and nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN) products. Its NR supplement stands out for one specific reason worth understanding before you buy: it uses nicotinamide riboside malate, not the chloride salt used in essentially every controlled human trial on NR.

What's actually in Double Wood's NR product?

Each serving (2 capsules) delivers 500 mg of nicotinamide riboside, formulated as "NR Malate" — nicotinamide riboside bound to malic acid rather than to chloride. The rest of the capsule is unremarkable: hypromellose, microcrystalline cellulose, vegetable stearate, and silica as fillers and flow agents. No proprietary blends, no undisclosed doses — the label is straightforward, which is worth crediting.

Does the malate salt matter, or is this splitting hairs?

It's a legitimate open question, not a red flag. Nearly all of the landmark human trials establishing that oral NR raises blood NAD+ — including the dose-response trial finding a 51% increase at 300 mg (Conze et al., 2019) and the crossover trial finding roughly 60% at 1,000 mg (Martens et al., 2018) — used nicotinamide riboside chloride, the same salt form used in our own NAD+ Restore formulation. NR malate is chemically similar (the difference is the counter-ion attached to the NR molecule, not the active NR itself), and there's no strong theoretical reason to expect a large difference in how the body processes it. But "no strong theoretical reason to expect a difference" is not the same claim as "proven equivalent in a human trial," and no head-to-head study exists comparing the two salts directly in humans.

How does the dose compare to what's been studied?

At 500 mg per serving, Double Wood's NR sits between the 300 mg and 1,000 mg doses tested in the Conze et al. dose-response trial, which found blood NAD+ increases of 51% and 142% at those two doses respectively. A 500 mg dose would reasonably be expected to land somewhere between those two figures, though again, that's an inference from the chloride-form dose-response curve applied to a different salt, not a direct measurement of Double Wood's specific product.

What about their NMN product?

Double Wood also sells NMN in a separate powder and capsule line. NMN as an ingredient has its own supporting trial base — including a study finding it improved insulin sensitivity in prediabetic women at 250 mg/day (Yoshino et al., 2021) — but as with the NR product, Double Wood's specific NMN formulation hasn't been independently trial-tested. If you're deciding between their NR and NMN lines, that choice is really a question of which precursor's broader evidence base you find more compelling, covered in more depth in our head-to-head, {link('nr-vs-nmn-vs-nad', 'NR vs. NMN vs. NAD+')}.

What this review won't claim

We're not going to tell you Double Wood's NR malate definitely performs identically to NR chloride in raising blood NAD+, because that specific comparison hasn't been run. We're also not going to tell you it doesn't — the available chemistry doesn't suggest a meaningful functional difference, and Double Wood's third-party contaminant testing (screening for lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury in a cGMP facility) is a real, verifiable quality signal, separate from the efficacy question.

How Double Wood's pricing compares across the category

At roughly $0.50-0.55 per 500 mg serving depending on current promotions, Double Wood sits toward the value end of the NR category -- generally cheaper per milligram of NR than boutique liposomal or combination-ingredient products, and competitive with other single-ingredient capsule brands. That value positioning is consistent with the brand's broader catalog, which spans a wide range of single-ingredient supplements rather than specializing narrowly in NAD+ products.

Worth noting for anyone comparing options: price-per-milligram is only informative once you've settled the salt-form question above. If NR malate turns out to perform somewhat differently than NR chloride at an equivalent dose -- which hasn't been tested either way -- then the cheaper price per milligram of NR malate wouldn't necessarily translate into an equivalent value on the outcome that actually matters (raised blood NAD+), since that comparison assumes equivalence that isn't yet demonstrated.

Frequently asked questions

Is NR malate as effective as NR chloride?
There's no direct human trial comparing the two salts. NR chloride has the trial data; NR malate's case rests on chemical similarity rather than its own dose-response study.

Is 500 mg of NR a good dose?
It falls between the two doses (300 mg and 1,000 mg) that showed clear, dose-dependent NAD+ increases in the largest controlled NR trial, so it's a reasonable middle-ground dose on paper.

Is Double Wood a reputable brand?
Their products are manufactured in cGMP facilities with published third-party contaminant testing, which is a legitimate quality signal — though, as with most supplement brands, that's separate from clinical efficacy testing of the specific product.

How does this compare to other NR brands?
See our reviews of Renue By Science and Thorne ResveraCel for how ingredient sourcing, dose, and formulation compare across the category.

The bottom line

Double Wood's NR product is a straightforward, reasonably priced 500 mg NR malate supplement from a brand with real (if standard) quality testing. The open question — whether the malate salt performs identically to the chloride salt used in human trials — isn't resolved by direct evidence either way, which is worth knowing rather than assuming. If you want the salt form with direct trial data behind it, nicotinamide riboside chloride is the more evidence-matched choice; our review of Life Extension's NAD+ Cell Regenerator covers another chloride-based option at a different price point.

References

1. Conze D, Brenner C, Kruger CL. Safety and metabolism of long-term administration of NIAGEN (nicotinamide riboside chloride) in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of healthy overweight adults. Sci Rep. 2019;9(1):9772. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-46120-z.
2. Martens CR, Denman BA, Mazzo MR, et al. Chronic nicotinamide riboside supplementation is well-tolerated and elevates NAD+ in healthy middle-aged and older adults. Nat Commun. 2018;9(1):1286. DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-03421-7.
3. Yoshino M, Yoshino J, Kayser BD, et al. Nicotinamide mononucleotide increases muscle insulin sensitivity in prediabetic women. Science. 2021;372(6547):1224-1229. PMID: 33888596.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice.