Vitamin B3 - Niacin

Vitamin B3 - Niacin Topics:
Who are likely to be deficient in Niacin?
Niacin Deficient Symptoms
Editors' summary on Niacin

Who are likely to be deficient in Niacin?

As all B vitamins, niacin is commonly deficient from our normal food resources. Foods high in niacin are:
Beef Liver, White Meat (Chicken, Salmon, Tuna etc.), Peanuts, Yeast, soy flour and brown rice.

In general, Niacin is often deficient in the elderly. This is because the metabolism of the elders is becoming weaker, and the ability to absorb nutrients from the regular food sources is decreased as well. Therefore, some Niacin (as well as other B vitamin) is recommended for people who are over 55 years of age.

The following people may also have an deficiency in niacin:
- Women that are pregnant or breastfeeding
- People who abuse alcohol or other drugs
- People with inadequate caloric or nutritional dietary intake (e.g. Vegetarian)
- People with increased nutritional requirements (e.g. under work / study stress, athletes in training period)
- People with a chronic wasting illness, such as malignancies, pancreatic insufficiency, cirrhosis of the liver, spruce etc...
- People born with errors of metabolism (congenital disorders due to chromosome abnormalities)

Note: studies have indicated second hand smokers are likely to be deficient in all vitamins especially Vitamin C, B-complex Vitamins and Vitamin E. Therefore, if you have a smoker in the family, consider taking some extra vitamin supplements to avoid deficiency and keep healthy.

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Niacin Deficient Symptoms

A deficiency in niacin results in Pellagra, which signs are inflammation of the skin, diarrhea, dementia, dermatitis, and hallucinations. Frequent causes of a deficiency include a poor diet, isoniazid therapy (used in the treatment of tuberculosis) and carcinoid tumors. Rarely a deficiency can occur in the presence of hyperthyroidism, diabetes mellitus, cirrhosis, pregnancy or lactation.

The following is a list of most common deficiency symptoms:
1). Loss of appetite
2). Swollen, red tongue
3). Delirium
4). Skin lesions, including rashes, dry scaly skin, wrinkles, coarse skin texture
5). Indigestion
6). Diarrhea
7). Irritability
8). Dizziness
9). Headaches

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Editors' summary on Niacin

Niacin works closely with all the other B vitamins, especially riboflavin and pyridoxine. Your body makes some of the niacin it needs from the amino acid tryptophan. People needs niacin to release energy within the cells and for about 50 other body processes. As many other B vitamins, one can be easily deficient in Niacin and extra Vitamin B3 supplements are needed. Since it is also a water-soluble vitamin, slightly overdose should not be harmful to your body. Niacin supplements in very large doses can help lower high cholesterol, help to cure/prevent diabetes, fight against cancer and even decreases progression rate to AIDS.

Click here to read our reviews on the popular Niacin supplements.

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