Three types of niacin: Which one to take?

Niacin Flushing

Not all niacin is created equal. One of the greatest trends in the health world nowadays is niacin flushing. People take in an overdose of vitamin b3 (niacin) in order to lower their cholesterol. However, because the ‘normal’ version of niacin causes some nasty side effects, more and more people are changing over to a so called no flush niacin (implying that it doesn’t cause the nasty side effects). But is this type of niacin just as effective as the ‘normal’ one?

The Three Forms of Niacin

There are three types of niacin known:

1. Nicotinic Acid
2. Nicotinamide
3. Inositol hexaniacinate

It was already proven by scientific research that nicotinic acid can help you lower cholesterol, treat depression and stimulate hair growth. However, Inositol hexaniacinate (The flush free variant) is becoming more and more popular too. There is not much known about this type of niacin, since it is relatively new.

 

The few studies that have been done show that either the flush free niacin has to be dosed in extreme high amounts to be effective or it doesn’t work at all. Flush free niacin generally is built time-releasing, and because of this, the side effects are less intense or not present at all. However, this does also reduce the ‘flushing’ effect. This flushing effect causes by widening of the veins, results in all the known niacin benefits (niacin for depression). 

  
No Pain, No gain 

Therefore, it can be concluded that undergoing the side effects of niacin is just necessary in order to lower cholesterol, improve social angst and grow back hair naturally. The no flush niacin variants work only in extreme amounts or not at all.
Fortunately, there are some things you can do to decrease the intensity of the side effects after overdosing ‘normal’ niacin. The best thing to do is consume an aspirin 30 minutes prior to your niacin rich meal/supplement; this has always worked wonders for me. Other things that might help are vitamin c tablets and garlic extract.
Finally, be sure to avoid alcoholic/hot beverages. Drink a lot of water instead and go to the toilet often. The niacin side effects should last for approximately 30 minutes to an hour, depending on your sex and the amount of overdose you took.  The side effects will be way less intense when following the advice given in this article. In this way you can truly enjoy niacin flush benefits without uncomfortable feelings.