“For metabolic purposes, niacin is interchangeable with its amide, niacinamide, also known as nicotinamide.”
Well, that’s a mouthful!
Science is beginning to show some specific benefits in the use of Niacin…. whether in the treatment of blood sirum cholesterol, schizophrenia and many other maladies.
Here are a few facts that you may not know:
1) “Niacin plays an important role in ridding the body of toxic and harmful chemicals. It also helps the body make various sex and stress-related hormones in the adrenal glands and other parts of the body. Niacin is effective in improving circulation and reducing cholesterol levels in the blood”
Here’s a book review on the author to the left:
2) There are a wide variety of foods that are rich in vitamin B-3 ( Niacin)…. so did you know:
Now, I really don’t thnik that just eating niacin rich foods will get you where you want to go… after all, if you are looking for a benefit, higher concentrations are needed.
However, it is clear that bad things happen to folks who do not have or too little niacin in their systems.
As for me, the food sound great, except for the liver… I have too many memories of my mother fixing it… it was cheap in those days so we had it a lot.
Here’s another list:
Food Niacin (mg)
Beef liver, 3.5 oz cooked 14.4
Peanuts, 1/2 cup 10.5
Chicken, white meat, cooked 13.4
Tuna, canned in water, 3 oz 11.8
Salmon, 3.5 oz cooked 8.0
Corn grits, instant, 1 pkt 6.8
Ground beef, 3.5 oz cooked 5.3
Cheerios, 1 cup 5.0
Peanut butter, 2 Tbl 4.4
Almonds, 1/2 cup 1.4
Potato, baked with skin 3.3
Bagel, plain, 2.5 oz 3.3
Flour tortilla, 10″ 2.6
Pasta, 1 cup cooked 2.3
Mushrooms, raw, 1/2 cup 1.7
Barley, 1/2 cup cooked 1.6
Corn, yellow, 1/2 cup 1.3
Mango, 1 medium 1.5
Lentils, 1/2 cup cooked 1.4
Sweet potatoes, 1/2 cooked 1.2
Peach, raw, medium .9
Carrot, raw, medium .7
Now, I highlighted for all you Yankees — and my wife — the nutritional benefit of ‘Grits’…. one of the thnigs I like about Denny’s…. they always have grits!
3) Here are a few more benefits:
4) Niacin has been shown to completely reverse multiple sclerosis in mice… I don’t know where human trials stand… but it does look promising.
5) Now, I haven’t unfolded one of the unique properties of larger doses of Niacin…
“At this level of intake, histamine release may be triggered resulting in flushing of the skin”
Hmmmm… how do I describe the wonderful experience of flushing… it feels like every pore on your body has opened up and that you have spent about 10 hours in the hot sun and have earned quite a burn! Some people find it an unpleasant experience… but after about 6 years of it… I kinda like it.
I take about 500 mg of niacin a day during breakfast… and the ‘flush’ lasts for about 45 minutes….. and I feel great!
There is an old saying that goes something like this…’ avoid the chemist’s pot when you can find your cure in good foods.’
Roger Freberg