“Niacin?”Here!
Appears in 5 scanned products.
As a supplement
Talk to your doctor or pharmacist.
Roll Call does not check drug interactions or assess personal safety.
Niacin is a B-complex vitamin the body needs to convert food into energy and to make and repair DNA. It occurs naturally in meat, fish, and grains, and is also produced synthetically for fortification and supplements.
Why it’s used
Taken to meet daily niacin needs and to correct or prevent deficiency; also taken by some for its effects on blood lipids at doses far above typical dietary intake.
What the evidence is for
preventing and correcting niacin deficiency.
What the evidence says
NIH's Office of Dietary Supplements confirms niacin is essential for preventing deficiency (pellagra) and that ordinary dietary intake covers most people's needs. At much higher doses, prescription-strength niacin has evidence for altering cholesterol and triglyceride levels, but that use involves doses well above the vitamin RDA and carries a distinct evidence base and side-effect profile (notably flushing) separate from routine supplementation.
Dose studied
14–35 mg — adult RDA up to the tolerable upper intake level, per NIH ODS.
Context
The adult RDA is 14-16 mg/day depending on sex, and NIH ODS lists a tolerable upper intake level of 35 mg/day from supplements or fortified foods, above which flushing becomes common. Lipid-focused research has used extended-release forms at gram-level doses under medical supervision, a very different regimen from a standard multivitamin dose.
Rumors
Preventing and correcting the pellagra of niacin deficiency — a rash on sun-exposed skin, vomiting and diarrhea, and depression and memory loss that can end in death.
Supports — establishedhealth and safety evidence
Studied in: people with niacin deficiency (pellagra).
Measured as an outcome.
- Niacin — Health Professional Fact Sheet (Regulatory) · Funding not checked
How much is a reference amount
- 14 mg NE a dayfor adults 19 and over, women · Recommended Dietary Allowance
Upper limit 35 mg a day, from supplements only — it does not apply to the same nutrient in food.
- 16 mg NE a dayfor adults 19 and over, men · Recommended Dietary Allowance
Upper limit 35 mg a day, from supplements only — it does not apply to the same nutrient in food.
The RDA is in niacin equivalents (1 NE = 1 mg niacin or 60 mg tryptophan); the UL is in mg and applies only to supplemental niacin, not to niacin from food.
Every applicable line is shown because we don’t know which one is yours, and a reference intake is a target for a population, not a threshold for harm.