Vitamin B3

Other Names: 3-Pyridine Carboxamide, 3-Pyridinecarboxylic Acid, Acide Nicotinique, Acide Pyridine-Carboxylique-3, Amide de l’Acide Nicotinique, Anti-Blacktongue Factor, Antipellagra Factor, B Complex Vitamin, Complexe de Vitamines B, Facteur Anti-Pellagre, Niacin-Niacinamide, Niacin/Niacinamide, Niacina y Niacinamida, Niacinamide, Nicotinamide, Niacine, Niacine et Niacinamide, Nicamid, Nicosedine, Nicotinic Acid, Nicotinic Acid Amide, Nicotylamidum, Pellagra Preventing Factor, Vitamin B3, Vitamin PP, Vitamina B3, Vitamine B3, Vitamine PP.
Niacin and niacinamide are forms of Vitamin B3. Vitamin B3 is found in many foods including yeast, meat, fish, milk, eggs, green vegetables, beans, and cereal grains. Niacin and niacinamide are also found in many vitamin B complex supplements with other B vitamins. Even tryptophan rich foods like yoghurt and eggs may boost niacin levels. Niacinamide can be made from niacin in the body. Niacin is converted to niacinamide when it is taken in amounts greater than what is needed by the body. Niacin and niacinamide are easily dissolved in water and are well-absorbed when taken by mouth.
See also Nicotinamide

Special Precautions of Vitamin B3

While vitamin B3 (niacin) from foods is not known to cause adverse effects, side effects have been reported with preparations of niacin for disease treatment.

• Side effects may include diarrhea, headache, stomach discomfort, and bloating.
• High doses (50 mg or more) of niacin can cause side effects. The most common side effect is called "niacin flush," which is a burning, tingling sensation in the face and chest, and red or flushed skin. Taking an aspirin 30 minutes prior to the niacin may help reduce this symptom.
• At very high doses, used to lower cholesterol and treat other conditions, liver damage and stomach ulcers can occur. Your doctor will regularly check your liver function through a blood test.
• People with a history of liver disease, kidney disease, or stomach ulcers should not take niacin supplements. Those with diabetes or gallbladder disease should do so only under the close supervision of their doctors.
• Surgery: Niacin and niacinamide might interfere with blood sugar control during and after surgery. Stop taking niacin or niacinamide at least 2 weeks before a scheduled surgery.Stop taking niacin or niacinamide at least 2 weeks before a scheduled surgery.
• Niacin and niacinamide may make allergies worse by increasing histamine.
• People with low blood pressure should not take niacin or niacinamide because they may cause a dangerous drop in blood pressure. DO NOT take niacin if you have a history of gout.
• People with coronary artery disease or unstable angina should not take niacin without their doctor's supervision, as large doses can raise the risk of heart rhythm problems.
• Taking any one of the B vitamins for a long period of time can result in an imbalance of other important B vitamins. For this reason, you may want to take a B-complex vitamin, which includes all the B vitamins.
• Diabetes: Niacin and niacinamide might increase blood sugar. People with diabetes who take niacin or niacinamide should check their blood sugar carefully.
• Pregnancy and breast-feeding: Niacin and niacinamide are LIKELY SAFE for pregnant and breast-feeding women when taken in the recommended amounts. The recommended amount of niacin for pregnant or breast-feeding women is 30 mg per day for women under 18 years of age, and 35 mg for women over 18.
• Allergies: Niacin and niacinamide can make allergies more severe because they cause histamine, the chemical responsible for allergic symptoms, to be released. .
• Heart disease/unstable angina: Large amounts of niacin and niacinamide can increase the risk of irregular heartbeat. Use with caution.
• Gallbladder disease: Niacin and niacinamide might make gallbladder disease worse.
• Gout: Large amounts of niacin or niacinamide might bring on gout.
• Low blood pressure: Don’t take niacin or niacinamide if you have low blood pressure. Your blood pressure might drop too much.
• Liver disease: Niacin or niacinamide might increase liver damage. Don’t use them if you have liver disease.
• Kidney disease: Niacin might accumulate in people with kidney disease and cause harm. Don’t use them if you have kidney disease.
• Stomach or intestinal ulcers: Niacin or niacinamide might make ulcers worse. Don’t use them if you have ulcers.
• Interactions : Because of its impact on the liver, vitamin B3 can interact with several medications. If you are currently taking medications, or regularly drink alcohol, you should not use niacin without talking to your health care provider first.

Vitamin B3 Deficiency

• Pellagra is a disease caused by a lack of the vitamin niacin (vitamin B3).Symptoms include inflamed skin, diarrhea, dementia, and sores in the mouth. Areas of the skin exposed to either sunlight or friction are typically affected first. Over time affected skin may become darker, stiffen, peel, or bleed. Pellagra was common in the early twentieth century, but is less common now, since foods are now fortified with niacin. Pellagra has been virtually eliminated in western culture.

The benefits of Vitamin B3 are

Vitamin B3 also known as Niacin and niacinamide are required for the proper function of fats and sugars in the body and to maintain healthy cells. At high doses, niacin and niacinamide can have different effects. Niacin might help people with heart disease because of its beneficial effects on clotting. It may also improve levels of a certain type of fat called triglycerides in the blood. Niacinamide has no beneficial effects on fats and should not be used for treating high cholesterol or high fat levels in the blood. People with poor diet, alcoholism, and some types of slow-growing tumors called carcinoid tumors might be at risk for niacin deficiency.

• Anti-aging : Recent research shows that the gene known as Sir2 produces a protein that extends cell life and plays a role in metabolism, gene silencing, and cellular life extension. It is now known that niacinamide enhances its activity of silencing the "aging" gene.
• niacin may protect against Alzheimer's Disease. Studies on mice concluded that niacinamide improved cognition. A human study has not yet been completed. Anyone over 60 with a family history of Alzheimer's and who fears getting the disease might want to consider taking niacinamide as a precaution. For those already suffering from Alzheimer's, niacinamide offers hope.
• Skin : It increases certain compounds found in your body that becomes the outer most layer of protection of the skin. This is good for you if you have problems with either dry or sensitive skin and it also inhibits dark spot formation. For clients who experiences Rosacea, this helps reduce accompanying signs of the condition such as redness. Products that contain Vitamin B3 are mostly found in creams and mostly are preferably applied day and night.
• Melanoma : potential of nicotinamide for preventing melanoma in high-risk individuals. Nicotinamide can help reduce or reverse DNA damage, inflammation, and immunosuppression caused by ultraviolet radiation.
• Digestion: As a family of B-complex vitamins, niacin aids in normal functioning of the human digestive system, promoting healthy appetite, good nerves and a glowing skin.
• Energy: Vitamin B3 performs the important function of converting proteins, carbohydrates and fats into energy.
• High Cholesterol: Intake of large quantity of niacin such as 1100 or more milligrams in a day has been proven to considerably reduce the bad cholesterol LDL and raising the good cholesterol HDL for preventing the thickening of artery walls. Only niacin seems to lower cholesterol, not niacinamide.
• Restless sleep : The Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine published a 2005 evaluation of alternative sleep aids, including vitamin B3 in the form of niacinamide. Two groups of subjects—those without sleep disorders and those suffering from insomnia—were given escalating doses of niacinamide for 21 days. Both groups responded favorably to B3 supplements with improved sleep.
• Sex: Niacin helps in making sex related hormones for people having sex problems.
• Mental Health: Schizophrenia and bipolar and behavioral disorders, even mental derangement and associated problems may be cured with administration of niacin supplements or medical drugs.
• Diabetes: Niacin is known to treat diabetes and high blood sugar levels. Most of diabetic patients have been able to effectively control HBA1C level with help of niacin. Niacin helped protect against the low levels of HDL cholesterol that typically accompany diabetes.
• Arthritis : niacinamide has been well documented to effectively relieve the pain of arthritis, with no toxicity and only rare side effects.
• Acne
• Infectious Diseases : Niacin can combat antibiotic-resistant staph infections : high doses of B3 increased the ability of immune cells to kill staph bacteria by 1,000 times. The study involved both laboratory animals and human blood.

References

• Minocha, Damian & Halliday, Photodermatology, Photoimmunology & Photomedicine, online July 5, 2017.
• Damian, Australasian Journal of Dermatology, Aug. 2017