Niacin: The New Miracle Cure?

Niacin has recently shot to public attention after it won a battle with the prescription drug Zetia in lowering cholesterol.  Niacin (or B3) is considered an essential human nutrient, and is found in organ meats, chicken, beef, fish, milk, eggs, nuts, dark green vegetables, coffee (yay!) and mushrooms.  The humble niacin was known primarily for flushing the faces of those taking B vitamin supplements, but now is being touted as the newest cure for Alzheimers, high cholesterol, and oily skin.

Niacin's effect on cholesterol was recently presented at the American Heart Association's annual meeting, as well as being published in the New England Journal of Medicine.  In a tightly controlled study, niacin in combination with statins was shown to be more effective than Zetia in reducing arterial plaque.

In 2004, a suggestive study by the Rush Institute for Health Aging in Chicago showed that people who ate a diet rich in niacin had a 70% lower risk of Alzheimer's later in life.  There was also a corollary between the amount of niacin they consumed, and their rate of mental decline: the more niacin you eat, the sharper you stay in your old age.

Topical application of a niacin cream has also been shown to be helpful in controlling acne.  Which is somewhat ironic, given that many people complain that long term use of niacin causes the "niacin flush" to become a permanent rash.  An excess of niacin can also cause skin complications, so it is best to control your usage.

Some researchers are even claiming that niacin can help control and perhaps even prevent diabetes.  Claims in this regard should be treated with extreme caution, because niacin is well known to increase blood glucose levels - pretty much the last thing a diabetic person needs!

A group of researchers from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center carried out a series of clinical trials of extended release niacin (similar to the version which was used in the cholesterol test against Zetia).  Their claim is that a precise daily dosage of just the right amount can cause a diabetic's blood glucose levels to become resistant to fluctuations.  While steady blood glucose levels are the goal of every diabetic, most sources are not quite ready to tout niacin as a diabetes cure just yet.

On the flip side, lack of niacin can cause the disease pellagra.  Pellagra looks a bit like leprosy to the external, untrained observer.  In fact, it was originally considered to be a kind of leprosy, either from poisoning or carried by corn.  It was endemic to Italy and other corn dependent parts of Europe for several hundred years, until someone noticed that corn based cultures in the New World did not suffer from pellagra.  

It turns out that the way that Native Americans prepared corn for eating used an alkali, which allowed the niacin in the corn flour to be available to the human body.  They prepared corn differently in the New World, in a way such that the niacin was locked up and unavailable, and thus suffered pellagra.