A Bronx woman’s death has drawn scrutiny to a celebrity-fueled wellness treatment after prosecutors said an unlicensed practitioner allegedly administered an IV infusion of NAD+, a buzzy anti-aging molecule promoted by stars including Hailey Bieber and Kendall Jenner.
Elizabeth Baron, 27, went into cardiac arrest on Sunday shortly after Luis Rojas Cabrera, 55, allegedly connected her to an IV containing NAD+, despite having no license to practice medicine in New York or anywhere in the United States, according to prosecutors and court filings.
“Administering NAD+ via an IV requires a prescription from a medical professional,” Assistant District Attorney Ethan Reisbaum said late Monday during Rojas Cabrera’s arraignment on charges of reckless endangerment and unauthorized practice of a profession.
Baron’s official cause of death has not yet been determined, with an autopsy by the city medical examiner still pending. But the case has intensified questions around NAD+, a molecule widely marketed in wellness circles as a potential longevity booster while many medical experts remain cautious about its claims.
Bieber, the 29-year-old model and entrepreneur, helped push the treatment further into the mainstream during a 2022 episode of “The Kardashians,” where she received an IV drip containing the coenzyme alongside Kendall Jenner, 30.
“I’m going to NAD for the rest of my life and I’m never going to age,” Bieber said during the episode.
Joe Rogan has also talked up NAD+ on his podcast, claiming the treatment can support immunity and cognitive function, despite ongoing debate over the strength of evidence behind such benefits.
“You just feel fantastic. You feel really good,” Rogan said during a 2024 episode.
MORE STORY: Joliet Police Chase Ends in Violent Black Road and Larkin Avenue Crash, Hospitalizing Four
The buzz fueled an explosion of NAD+ offerings at wellness clinics across the US, including upscale offerings in the Big Apple.
But many experts have said the claims are greatly overblown, often nonsensical and require more research.
The molecule — technically named nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide — is a coenzyme naturally found in cells, with many researchers finding depletion could be linked to aging.
Michael Sagner, a clinical adviser at King’s College in the UK, told The Guardian that there was little evidence that NAD+ infused into the bloodstream — such as through an IV — enters cells.
“That’s why it’s completely idiotic from a biochemistry point of view to inject yourself with NAD itself,” he told the outlet.
Rojas Cabrera ran Bereshit Lifestyle Center, a Riverdale wellness center that offers “natural medicine” and therapies as well as products geared toward “making healthy living easy,” according to its website.
He told authorities that he was licensed to practice medicine in the Dominican Republican but not New York, court documents state.
After Baron went into cardiac arrest, Rojas Cabrera allegedly told a police officer, “I made a very big mistake. I need to call my family because I have a feeling I will not be home for a while,” the court documents state.
Reisbaum said prosecutors were waiting on autopsy results before deciding whether to charge Rojas Cabrera in Baron’s death.
“Before we get the results of the autopsy, we can’t make the causation and charge him with her death,” she said in court.
