Cleveland Clinic researchers have identified a new pathway that contributes to cardiovascular disease associated with high levels of niacin, a common B vitamin previously recommended to lower cholesterol.
Feb 19, 2024
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Dietary niacin intake is associated with migraine among U.S. adults, with an L-shaped curve and an inflection point of about 21.0 mg/day, according to a study published online July 25 in Nutrients.
Aug 31, 2022
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Indiana University School of Medicine researchers have found that niacin limits Alzheimer's disease progression when used in models in the lab, a discovery that could potentially pave the way toward therapeutic approaches ...
Mar 23, 2022
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Niacin is an important B vitamin that may raise your HDL, ("good"), cholesterol. Find out if you should talk to your health care provider about taking niacin alone or with cholesterol medications.
Nov 23, 2020
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Niacin is an important B vitamin that may raise your HDL, ("good"), cholesterol. Find out if you should talk to your health care provider about taking niacin alone or with cholesterol medications.
Mar 3, 2020
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Four unsolved mysteries around schizophrenia have long plagued the medical community, but a new hypothesis identifying a common link between them and an almost forgotten epidemic of a disease called pellagra could have profound ...
Dec 12, 2019
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Investigators have identified a new cellular pathway that may help explain how arterial inflammation develops into atherosclerosis—deposits of cholesterol, fats and other substances that create plaque, clog arteries and ...
Jun 21, 2018
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(HealthDay)—A targeted microbiome intervention, accomplished through microencapsulated delayed-release niacin, beneficially affects insulin sensitivity in humans, according to a study published online Dec. 6 in Diabetes ...
Dec 18, 2017
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After 50 years of being a mainstay cholesterol therapy, niacin should no longer be prescribed for most patients due to potential increased risk of death, dangerous side effects and no benefit in reducing heart attacks and ...
Jul 16, 2014
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Scientists have more reasons for you to eat fiber and not abuse antibiotics.
Jan 16, 2014
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"Niacin" redirects here. For the neo-fusion band, see Niacin (band).
Niacin (also known as vitamin B3, nicotinic acid and vitamin PP) is an organic compound with the formula C6H5NO2 and, depending on the definition used, one of the forty to eighty essential human nutrients.
Niacin is one of five vitamins associated with a pandemic deficiency disease: niacin deficiency (pellagra), vitamin C deficiency (scurvy), thiamin deficiency (beriberi), vitamin D deficiency (rickets), vitamin A deficiency (night blindness and other symptoms).
Niacin has been used to increase levels of HDL cholesterol in the blood and has been found to modestly decrease the risk of cardiovascular events in a number of controlled human trials. However, in a recent trial AIM-HIGH, a slow-release form of niacin was found to have no effect on cardiovascular event and stroke risk in a group of patients with LDL levels already well-controlled by a statin drug, and the trial was halted prematurely on evidence that niacin addition actually increased stroke risk in this group. The role of niacin in treating cardiovascular risk remains under debate.
This colorless, water-soluble solid is a derivative of pyridine, with a carboxyl group (COOH) at the 3-position. Other forms of vitamin B3 include the corresponding amide, nicotinamide ("niacinamide"), where the carboxyl group has been replaced by a carboxamide group (CONH2), as well as more complex amides and a variety of esters. The terms niacin, nicotinamide, and vitamin B3 are often used interchangeably to refer to any member of this family of compounds, since they have similar biochemical activity.
Niacin cannot be directly converted to nicotinamide, but both compounds could be converted to NAD and NADP in vivo. Although the two are identical in their vitamin activity, nicotinamide does not have the same pharmacological effects (lipid modifying effects) as niacin; these effects occur as side effects of niacin's conversion. Nicotinamide does not reduce cholesterol or cause flushing. Nicotinamide may be toxic to the liver at doses exceeding 3 g/day for adults. Niacin is a precursor to NAD+/NADH and NADP+/NADPH, which play essential metabolic roles in living cells. Niacin is involved in both DNA repair, and the production of steroid hormones in the adrenal gland.
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA
