“Vitamin B3 (unspecified)?”Here!niacin
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As a supplement
Talk to your doctor or pharmacist.
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A B vitamin the body needs for energy metabolism, existing in two common forms — nicotinic acid and nicotinamide — either of which a label may simply call vitamin B3.
Why it’s used
Taken to meet daily niacin needs and to correct or prevent deficiency, which is rare in populations with reliable food access.
What the evidence is for
preventing and correcting niacin deficiency.
What the evidence says
NIH's Office of Dietary Supplements describes niacin as essential for normal metabolism, with an established role in preventing and correcting deficiency (pellagra). Higher, pharmacologic doses of nicotinic acid have been studied for lipid effects, but that is a distinct use from ordinary dietary supplementation and carries its own separate evidence base.
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 NE per day depending on sex; the tolerable upper intake level for supplemental niacin is 35 mg per day, per NIH ODS, set mainly to avoid flushing.
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/tryptophan deficiency (e.g., undernourished populations at risk for 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.