Niacin - For Your Cholesterol
Niacin, also known as vitamin B3, has many health benefits. Check out this list just for starters,
• Digestion: As a family of B-complex vitamins, niacin aids in normal functioning of the human digestive system, promoting healthy appetite, good nerves and a glowing skin.
• Energy: Vitamin B3 performs the important function of converting proteins, carbohydrates and fats into energy.
• Cholesterol: Intake of large quantity of niacin such as 1100 or more milligrams in a day has been proven to considerably reduce the bad cholesterol LDL and raising the good cholesterol HDL for preventing the thickening of artery walls.
• Water-soluble: Niacin is a water-soluble vitamin that can travel through the human blood stream and body has the option to discharge excess vitamins through the process of urination. Therefore, such vitamins may be administered to human beings through food and liquid, as our body does need a constant supply.
• Daily Dosages: Ideally women should have at least 15mg to 18mg in a day. It is extremely beneficial for women, who are on pills. Even those who occasionally use sleeping pills may have a vitamin B3 deficiency. Men should consume 15mg to 19 mg every day, whereas children should have 9mg to 13mg dosage of vitamin B3 each day.
• Pellagra: People with weak muscles, indigestion problems, skin irritations or pellagra may have severe vitamin B3 deficiency. Such people need to have an increased dosage of vitamin B3 supplements.
• Mental Health: Even mental derangement and associated problems may be cured with administration of niacin supplements or medical drugs.
• Diabetes: Niacin is known to treat diabetes and high blood sugar levels. Most of diabetic patients have been
What is a niacin flush?
If you take niacin there’s a good chance you’ll experience a niacin flush. Don’t worry, it’s perfectly natural and even beneficial. What happens is this.
Niacin causes your capillaries (small blood vessels) in your body to get wider (bigger). The capillaries are usually extremely small and blood passes through them very slowly. The inherent problem with this is that capillaries are the main way for your body to rid itself of toxins. Your arteries, in comparison, are much larger than capillaries and can carry more blood and at a faster rate, but they do not come near the majority of your body. Arteries are the “highways” of your body and capillaries are more like the small town road that you exit off of the highway from in order to get to your house. Your house, in this example, would be a cell somewhere in a remote part of your body that is full of toxins. Without sufficient blood flow (oxygen, and everything that comes along with it), this cell cannot rid itself of its’ toxins. Now, imagine your city widening the road that leads by your house—the traffic would increase right and they would probably increase the speed limit from 25 to say 45 or 50 right? Well, the same is true for your capillaries! They will carry more blood, and at a faster rate. The end result is that your cells now have more blood to rid themselves of toxins throughout your body as the capillaries get wider!
How does this relate to niacin flush? Niacin causes the capillaries to get bigger, and the end result is the “flush”. The increase in size of your capillaries causes, in some cases, a redness on your skin in the areas that it is occurring. This is the first part of niacin flush. The second reaction of niacin flush is the annoying, and sometimes painful itch that comes along with it. This itch is actually healthy! The reason you are experiencing this itch is because the niacin has allowed more blood to reach your cells to remove toxins from them. As toxins are carried away and your cell becomes healthier, it is finally able to “call” your body for help! Your body responds by sending what is called a histamine to the cell. Histamines cause you to itch, but they also allow your body to send more water, blood, and nutrients to the area that called them.
To sum it up, the niacin flush is actually a very healthy reaction from your body. You shouldn’t be alarmed when you get it, it just means your body is healing itself. You’ll notice that after a certain dosage of niacin that eventually you will not receive the niacin flush any longer. Once you up the dosage, you may experience it again. Your doctor can recommend a good healthy dosage for you.
Niacin is found naturally in these foods, but it is recommended to find a high potency supplement to avoid lots of intake of fat.
• Meat
• turkey
• tuna fish
• eggs
• poultry products
• curds
• brewer’s yeasts
• peanuts, legumes
• potatoes
• cheese
• brown rice
• oats
• barley
• wheat flakes
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