Dr. Berg Table of Contents
Vitamin B3 explained
I’d like to explain the difference between the Niacin vs Niacinamide different forms of Vitamin B3 .
We have niacin and we have niacinamide .
The two big differences are this .
Niacin vs. niacinamide
Niacin will give you the flush .
Okay .
That flushing response , the vasodilation response , but niacinamide won’t .
So it’s a non flush effect of Vitamin B3 .
Other important distinction is with niacin , you get all the lipid benefits .
So you have all these great benefits with , lowering cholesterol , lowering LDL , increasing HDL , decreasing inflammation inside the artery , whereas niacinamide does not have those benefits .
So if you’re trying to lower your cholesterol , niacin is the one you wanna use .
Now both of these vitamins chemically work in a similar way , especially in turning food into energy .
Now niacin is really effective for fatty liver , not just the fatty liver , but a liver that’s inflamed , a liver that is developing scar tissue like in cirrhosis .
And so niacin is a really good to remove fat from your liver .
Now what’s interesting about this Vitamin B3 , both niacin and niacinamide is the amount of research that is done on this compound .
I mean , it’s like it’s mind blowing .
And to me , I’m just curious , like , why would they do all this research on something that’s like a a vitamin ?
It’s so cheap when that competes for certain drugs .
I mean , they found niacin to be a standalone effective remedy for managing your cholesterol .
And doctors used to use , Niacin before statins came on stage .
The dangers of niacin
But if you dig a little bit further , you’re gonna see , quite a few articles and internet links to the dangers of niacin .
So I wanna talk about that .
You know , it’s a lot of discouragement from using niacin because it could be dangerous to your liver , can create liver toxicity .
And if you actually read some of these articles , you would never take niacin .
Well , if you dig a little further , you’re gonna find out that it’s rare .
It’s usually involved with a certain percent of the population , like 20% of the population that is taking very high doses over a long period of time and time release niacin , it’s actually not as common as you may think .
I mean , when you think about even watching a commercial , a drug commercial in the US , I mean , may cause projectile vomiting , suicide .
It might put you in coma and you might die .
I mean , think about the side effects from medication , and then you compare that to some rare side effect from a vitamin .
It just does not compare .
I mean , do you know any medication that doesn’t produce side effects very commonly ?
Now there is one article I wanna bring up just right now , related to niacin increasing your liver enzymes , right , which again is rare .
But one doctor had an interesting , commentary on that that point .
Because when you start to increase niacin and you start to increase this cofactor of making energy , not just in your liver , but in all the organs .
Apparently , there’s gonna be more demand for liver enzymes to make that happen .
So one potential possible reason for an increase in liver enzymes is just that you’re converting more energy and giving more energy to the rest of the body .
Benefits of niacin
Niacin:
- • Gives a flushing response
- • Has lipid benefits
- • Helps lower cholesterol
- • Helps lower LDL
- • Helps increase HDL
- • Helps decrease inflammation in the arteries
- • Supports a healthy liver
- • May help with schizophrenia
- • May help with drug-induced dyskinesia
So now that I got that out of the way , let’s talk about some other benefits .
Niacin , apparently , it has been effective for schizophrenia .
Now there is some data related to certain genetic variations or problems which can put someone at risk for having schizophrenia .
And apparently , this gene , which is n a p r t 1 , is the enzyme for making niacin .
Interesting coincidence .
So if any of you know anyone with schizophrenia , definitely have them read this article.
And there’s also another , condition that I wanna bring up called drug induced dyskinesia , which is a condition where you’re having these involuntary abnormal movements of your body .
And there’s some great research on adding niacin and manganese for that condition .
So if you have dyskinesia , you may wanna use those two things .
Benefits of niacinamide
Niacinamide:
- • Won’t cause a flush
- • Helps with certain skin conditions (acne, dermatitis, rosacea, and psoriasis)
- • Helps lower histamines
- • Helps reduce immune inflammatory factors
- • Helps decrease flaking skin
- • Helps reduce sebum
- • May help reduce inflammation
- • May help with arthritis
- • Is used for anti-aging
- • Is used for hyperpigmentation
- • May help reduce anger and anxiety
Now let’s shift over to niacinamide , talk a little bit more about that .
What other conditions has this been shown to be effective in ?
Well , number 1 , acne , dermatitis , the rosacea , and even psoriasis , both taking in capsule form as well as in a cream .
There’s a lot of things that it can help you with that I’m not gonna get into , but basically it’ll lower your histamines .
It will reduce , certain immune inflammatory factors .
It’ll help decrease the flaking or the plaques on your skin .
And for acne , it can actually help decrease sebum , which is the oil in the sebaceous gland , which is inflamed .
Niacinamide is also been effective for arthritis .
It’s used a lot with certain , facial creams for preventing aging and hyperpigmentation .
Niacinamide is also good for the person who has a temper .
You can give it to your kids that have have a temper tantrum , and it’ll just chill them out .
It’s good for anxiety .
Okay .
And so is Vitamin 1 , but Vitamin B3 is also good .
As I was reading the side effect from Niacin , you know , I was just thinking , what if you became deficient in Vitamin B3 ?
What would be the side effects of that ?
People don’t talk about that .
That’s called pellagra .
That is a serious condition where you have diarrhea , you have depression , you could die , you can get dementia and develop a really serious skin disorder .
But you can develop a b three deficiency by drinking a lot of alcohol , by consuming a lot of refined foods , especially corn .
Apparently corn tends to bind up tryptophan , which is amino acid that turns into niacinib .
And so the early Indians when they used to , use maize or corn in their food , they had a technique .
They would soak it in lime , and that would alkalize this corn meal , and that would free up the niacin that was necessary to prevent pellagra .
But , of course , nowadays , we don’t do that .
We just grind up the corn , and we just eat it in corn chips and all sorts of foods .
But if you’re living on a diet just of corn , chances are you probably are gonna develop , pellagra .
In summary , niacin gives you the flesh .
Niacinamide won’t give you the flesh .
Niacin is really good for cholesterol , all aspects of cholesterol .
Your lipids in a fatty liver , it’s good for all that .
It’s also good for schizophrenia , dyskinesia .
And then niacinamide is really good for , everything related to the skin and inflammation and arthritis and anxiety .
Many people are discouraged from taking niacin because of potential side effects. But the dangers are rare and are typically involved in those taking very high doses over long periods and time-release niacin.
DATA:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17147…
https://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g…
https://researchfeatures.com/high-dos…
http://orthomolecular.org/resources/o…
