Key Points
- "Body Listening" was the only interoceptive domain that significantly improved.
- Combined PQQ + NMN did not outperform PQQ alone.
- NMN alone did not significantly change interoception.
- Across all groups, exhaustive exercise altered several aspects of body awareness.
- No significant improvements were observed in exercise performance markers.
Methods
Sixty male college athletes were randomized to receive a single oral dose of one of the following:
- Placebo: cornflour capsule
- PQQ: 20 mg PQQ capsule
- NMN: 300 mg NMN capsule
- PQQ + NMN: 20 mg PQQ + 300 mg NMN capsule
Supplements were taken 60 minutes before participants completed an exhaustive treadmill test.
"Supplements were ingested 60 minutes before completing an acute exhaustive exercise protocol using the Bruce treadmill test."
Interoception was measured before and after exercise using two questionnaires:
- Body Perception Questionnaire (BPQ)
- Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA-2)
Exhaustive Exercise Changes Body Awareness
Across all groups, intense exercise changed several measures of body awareness, including overall body perception, self-regulation, body listening, and trusting internal signals.
"Significant improvements over time were observed in BPQ scores, self-regulation, body listening, and trust."
This suggests that pushing the body to exhaustion affects how people perceive internal sensations, regardless of supplementation.
PQQ Improved "Body Listening"
"Body Listening" refers to paying attention to internal signals in order to guide behavior, for example, recognizing fatigue early enough to adjust effort.
"Body listening was the only domain that demonstrated a significant group Γ time interaction, with the PQQ group showing significant improvement."
This was the only domain that differed meaningfully between groups:
- The PQQ group improved significantly.
- The placebo group did not.
- The NMN-only group did not.
- The PQQ + NMN group also improved, but not beyond PQQ alone.
A single 300 mg dose of NMN did not significantly affect interoception in this short-term setting.
"While NMN alone does not affect exercise interoception, it has a potential synergistic effect when combined with PQQ."
The authors note that NMN increases NADβΊ levels inside cells and supports pathways involved in mitochondrial function and inflammation regulation.
Because these often require sustained activation, longer-term supplementation may be necessary to observe measurable changes.
Conclusion
Single dose PQQ supplementation enhanced a specific regulatory component of interoceptive awareness (Body Listening) following exhaustive exercise.
"Findings of this study demonstrate the link between the changes induced by PQQ in both interoception and exercise capacity."
A single 300 mg dose of NMN did not produce measurable short-term effects in this study. However, NMN may require longer-term use to influence neural or performance adaptations.
"The present experiment involved acute NMN administration one hour before exercise, the NAD+ increase may not have been sufficient to elicit⦠responses."
This study suggests that PQQ may help support how the brain interprets internal body signals during intense physical stress.
"This research has shown that PQQ supplementation effectively enhances body listening levels."
"PQQ supplementation may enhance specific aspects of interoception following acute exhaustive exercise."
More long-term research is needed to determine whether NMN contributes to sustained improvements in body awareness or exercise performance.
