What is Niacinamide?

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Niacinamide - B Complex

Niacinamide is one of the water-soluble B-complex vitamins. Niacin,

or nicotinic acid, is also known as Vitamin B-3. When an amide

molecule attaches itself to niacin, it becomes niacinamide. One

major difference is that in doses exceeding 50 mg, niacin typically

produces flushing of the skin. Niacin and niacinamide also have

different applications. It its niacinamide form, it is useful in

arthritis and early-onset type I diabetes; niacin is an effective

reducer of high cholesterol levels.

Niacinamide was first linked to preventing the development of

diabetes in experimental animals in the 1950s, a finding confirmed

in the 1980s which led to further clinical studies. Niacinamide

enhances insulin secretion and increases insulin sensitivity.

Evidence points to niacinamide supplements being very effective in

preventing type I diabetes from progressing in some patients if

given soon enough at the onset of diabetes. It does so primarily by

helping restore beta cells.

Several studies done on high-risk groups led to a larger population-

based study conducted in New Zealand to see if supplements can

prevent diabetes from developing in high risk groups. The results of

screening 32,000 five- to seven-year-old children for islet cell

antibodies and treating those at risk proved quite impressive.

Treating diabetes is very costly, but early intervention by

screening (as done in the New Zealand study) and treating with

niacinamide supplements could dramatically cut health-care costs.1

Evidence on the impact of niacinamide on arthritis is only

preliminary. Drs. Kaufman and Abram Hoffer have reported

positive clinical results in the treatment of hundreds of patients

with osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis using high doses of

niacinamide. These results have yet to be fully evaluated in

detailed clinical studies.2