Vitamin B3 (Niacin): Your Ticket to Life!

Vitamin B3 Basic Info

Vitamin B3, or niacin, is another one of those molecules that's required to extract energy from foods. Similar to riboflavin (vitamin B2), niacin is also converted to a few active compounds absolutely required for bodily function, namely NADH and NADPH. Some of the critical oxidation/reduction reactions it's involved in are glycolysis, the Krebs cycle (or the TCA cycle), beta-oxidation (or the breakdown of fatty acids for producing energy) and sugar metabolism (such as fructose and galactose). These are all components of carbohydrate metabolism.

Recommended Daily Allowance for Niacin

As with other vitamins, daily vitamin intake depends on gender, age and body type. Although the values are relatively small (these are in mg), don't take them for granted! I've included a table for your benefit.

Recommended Daily Niacin Intake (mg)
Infants	5-6
Kids	8-15
Adult Males	13-20
Adult Females	12-15
Lactating/Pregnant	17-21

Now that you know how much you should be getting, which foods should you eat for a good source of niacin (vitamin B3)?

Sources of Niacin (Vitamin B3)
Seafood	Potatoes
Peanuts	Seeds or Nuts
Whole Grains/Cereals	Milk
Liver	Other Lean Meats

Further, niacin can also be synthesized in the body in the metabolism of Tryptophan, an essential amino acid. For clarity, your body will not make niacin without Tryptophan. Even this, however, is pretty inefficient. In fact, less than 2% of the Tryptophan is actually converted to niacin, so don't rely on this!

On the other hand, when your body has an excess of Tryptophan, it's shuttled towards niacin which can be excreted in the urine (just like all the B vitamins, amino acids are water soluble).

Excess Niacin

Niacin overdoses can have rather dramatic consequences. Some of these include stomach ulcers, chronic itchiness, heart arrhythmia, high blood sugar and even liver damage. Don’t overdo it! One of the most common symptoms following a dose (even small doses) of niacin is skin flushing. In other words, you may have a warm feeling come on your face and arms. The reason for this is that niacin is actually a chemical that will cause dilation of arteries that are close to your skin. The result is a feeling of warmth and reddened skin on the face and extremities. Very large doses can result in some degree of hypothermia (because you're losing heat right through your skin!)

Niacin Deficiency

This is another one to avoid. Ever heard of the three D's? Dermatitis, Dementia and Diarrhea. These are symptoms of a condition known as pellagra which, as described, involves the skin, intestines and nervous system.

Niacin Treatments

Niacin is sometimes used to treat a disease called hyperlipidemia in which your blood becomes highly concentrated in free fatty acids which can result in atherosclerosis and heart disease. What's going on here is that certain lipases (enzymes that break down fats) are overacting, leading to high concentrations of fats in the blood.

Niacin actually works to inhibit this lipase action which also causes the uptake of fatty acids by the liver to decrease rapidly, resulting in a downstream decrease in LDL cholesterol (or bad cholesterol).

By extension, niacin can also be used to treat conditions in which increased VLDL and LDL cholesterol is prominent! The drug name is Niaspan and is often used to lower blood lipids and increase the ratio of HDL/LDL cholesterol.

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