Dr. Berg Table of Contents
Today we’re going to talk about niacin (vitamin B3) and schizophrenia. With schizophrenia, a person may have hallucinations, delusions, paranoia, feelings of disconnection, a loss of interest in life, and may feel emotionless.
The medical theory of what causes schizophrenia is dopamine excess. A person is then given certain drugs to help regulate this. The potential problem with these drugs is that they could have side effects that cause metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance. This has been shown to worsen symptoms of schizophrenia because of what it could do to the brain.
Vitamin B3 and schizophrenia
Let’s talk about niacin , vitamin b3 , and schizophrenia .
Now there’s some fascinating information on this topic .
Normally, a person has an enzyme that clears out that chemical. But, people with schizophrenia have a defect with this enzyme.
He found that large doses of vitamin B3 every day (straight niacin) may help prevent the conversion of the precursor of adrenaline to adrenaline, making less adrenaline.
This could potentially help clear out adrenaline as well as decrease the production of adrenaline.
What is schizophrenia?
Schizophrenia is a combination of having hallucinations , delusions , paranoia , mixed with feeling disconnected , loss of interest in life , and feeling emotionless , which basically is your apathetic .
Causes of schizophrenia
Now the medical theory of what causes schizophrenia is you have dopamine excess , and so you’re given certain drugs to help regulate that .
The problem with those drugs is it has certain side effects that cause metabolic syndrome and insulin resistance , which has been shown to worsen these symptoms because of what it does to the brain .
So as a side note , there’s some great data .
I’ll put some links down below of how ketones , going on the ketogenic diet can help reduce those symptoms .
It’s a side note .
Another theory
However , there was a doctor named doctor Abraham Hoffer some years ago who had a different theory , and that theory was called the adrenochrome theory .
Adrenochrome is basically the byproducts of adrenaline .
And in his research , he found that the chemical structure of adrenaline was very similar to LSD , and so it had certain types of effects on the brain if it was in higher amounts .
So his whole theory was that schizophrenia comes from excessive amounts of adrenal chrome in the brain , which is toxic .
Now , normally , you’re supposed to have an enzyme that clears that chemical out , and people with schizophrenia have a defect with this enzyme .
So he found that by taking large doses of vitamin B3 , and I’m talking about straight Niacin .
I’m not talking about the time release Niacin , the one that doesn’t give you the flush .
There’s more side effects with that one rather than just take straight vitamin B3 Niacin .
But anyway , he found that by taking large doses of Niacin , you can prevent the conversion of the precursor for adrenaline called noradrenaline , thereby making less adrenaline .
So it will help clear out adrenaline .
potential benefits of vitamin B3
It helps you produce less adrenaline , which can be toxic to the brain , especially if you have a defect to this enzyme .
But also vitamin B3 will reduce liver toxicity .
It’ll help reduce oxidative stress in the mitochondria , as well as help your DNA repair .
There are several double blinded studies that were done .
Other potential benefits of vitamin B3:
- • It could help reduce liver toxicity
- • It could help reduce oxidative stress in the mitochondria
- • It could help the DNA repair
One of the studies showed a 79.5% improvement in symptoms .
Now he died some years ago , but recently , there were some other additional studies that were done to show improvements with schizophrenia using high doses of not just vitamin B3 , but other b vitamins as well
