Your can obtain niacin -- vitamin B-3 -- from a variety of foods, including poultry, fish, beef, beets and fortified breakfast cereals. You may also take niacin and niacinamide in pill form. Niacin and niacinamide, though similar, do not act the same way in your body. Vitamin B-3 contains nicotinic acid -- niacin -- and its amide -- niacinamide. Both forms of vitamin B-3 may produce serious side effects.
Niacin and Niacinamide Doses
A healthy diet includes 14 to 16 mg of niacin daily. Very few people in Western countries suffer from niacin deficiencies, although alcoholism may cause the rare exception. Niacin in high doses -- 500 to 3,000 mg a day -- proves effective in lowering cholesterol levels. Niacinamide, available in doses of 250 to 500 mg a day, does not help remove lipids from your bloodstream, but may help treat type 1 diabetes and arthritis. You need a prescription to purchase niacin, but you can purchase niacinamide over-the-counter in drugstores and health food stores.
Skin Flushes
Niacin may cause skin flushes, particularly at high doses. It can make your face and chest turn red and your skin burn or itch. Niacinamide, sometimes marketed as no-flush niacin, will less likely cause this uncomfortable side effect. If you take niacin for cholesterol, do not switch to niacinamide. To reduce flushes resulting from niacin, take an aspirin 30 minutes before your scheduled dose or ask your doctor about taking a timed-released formula of niacin instead. Skin flushes may go away as you adjust to the medication. You may alleviate skin flushes if you take small doses and slowly increase them.
Risks
Although niacin successfully lowers cholesterol, it also increases your body's level of homocysteine, an amino acid associated with heart disease. A U.S. government study concerning the effects of niacin on cardiovascular disease ended early, in May 2011, amid disappointing results and safety concerns. Participants in the study who took 2,000 mg of timed-release niacin daily suffered as many heart attacks and more than twice as many strokes as participants who did not take niacin.
Considerations
Both nicotinic acid -- niacin -- and niacinamide may produce serious effects with long-term use. Both may cause irregular heartbeat, stomach ulcers, gout, vision loss and liver damage. Timed-release formulas of niacin will more likely cause liver damage than regular niacin. Both niacin and niacinamide may worsen kidney disease and cause blood sugar elevations in persons with type 2 diabetes. Some people use niacin and niacinamide to help prevent cataracts, improve age-related memory loss and treat schizophrenia, as well as for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and alcohol dependence, according to MedlinePlus.. But talk to your doctor before using vitamin B-3 in any form.
