question on niacinamide

[Guest guest]

I am a diabetic who controls my blood glucose levels with diet &

supplements. I save lots of snippets of information I glean from

this list, from various websites, and from other sources.

 

The other day, while looking for something else, I came upon the

following snippet. It is from 2001, and I was not being careful to

footnote snippets ack then, so I have no referencing URL.

 

" A daily dosage of 1,500 to 2,500 mg of niacin or niacinamide may

improve carbohydrate tolerance in diabetics. Niacin or niacinamide

diminished the requirements of insulin needed to keep the blood sugar

of the diabetics within normal limits. The dosage was of the order of

500 mg three to five times daily to begin with, the dose being

subsequently reduced as the blood sugar came down. The Vitamins in

Medicine, 3rd edition, p 378, 1953, references cited in the text.)

 

" Persons with vitamin B-3 (niacin) deficiency may show

hypersensitivity to insulin, becoming hypoglycemic more readily than

normal subjects after an injection of insulin. (p 342) "

 

Years ago, I discovered that niacin makes my blood sugar levels go up,

but niacinamide does not. I already take 500 mg of niacinamide,

twice a day.

 

I upped my dose to 500 mg x four times a day. My fasting blood sugar

levels dropped from 129-135 down to 121 on the first day of increased

Niacinamide, and down to 111 today. today I am doing 500 mg x five

times a day.

 

I have looked on the net for indications of safe upper dose of

niacinamide. I see that niacin can be toxic in large doses, and

that nicainamide is safer. I can find warning symptoms, but no clear

upper safe range for consumption. I did see that Niacin can be used

in the range of 1.5-6 grams a day for cholesterol control. As

Niacinamide is supposedly safer than Niacin in large doses, I assume 6

grams would be OK.

 

Does anyone here have any thoughts on this?

 

Alobar

[Guest guest]

Niacin and niacinamide are equally safe. Only the slow release form of

niacin is known to have caused liver damage in some people not the

regular form that causes the flush. Niacinamide can cause nausea and

vomiting, but this is not a sign of damage to your body, just a sign

that you should lower the dose. Niacin can usually be taken in much

larger amounts without the nausea factor.

 

If you are not being bothered by nausea then you have nothing to worry

about in regard to the dose of niacinamide that you are taking. If you

ever take enough to cause nausea then just lower the dose and you will

be fine.

 

Niacin and niacinamide in large doses can cause elevated liver enzyme

function tests but I do not believe that there are any cases of

persons who have had any actual damage to the liver and it is well

established that the enzymes return to their usual levels if the

person stops taking the niacin or niacinamide. I believe that the

elevated liver function tests simply show that the liver is more

active. I have done a lot of research on it because my son takes over

10 grams of niacin a day.

 

Here is a quote from a PubMed review of an article written in 2000

called " Safety of high-dose nicotinamide " :

 

" The therapeutic index of nicotinamide is wide but at very high doses

reversible hepatotoxicity has been reported in animals and humans. "

 

Notice that he says reversible hepatotoxicity. What this means is that

the liver enzyme function tests were elevated while the person took

the niacinamide, but that they went back down when they stopped taking

it. This was the most negative thing he could find about large dose

niacinamide after a " full literature review " .

 

" Experience to date therefore suggests that the ratio of risk to

benefit of long-term nicotinamide treatment would be highly

favourable, should the drug prove efficacious in diabetes prevention.

High-dose nicotinamide should still, however, be considered as a drug

with toxic potential at adult doses in excess of 3 gm/day and

unsupervised use should be discouraged. "

 

Notice that he says that unsupervised use should be discouraged, even

though the person who wrote the article was unable find any evidence

that anyone had ever had any harm from large doses!

 

Dr. Abram Hoffer tells of a teenage girl who took a whole bottle of

niacinamide in a fit of anger, I think she was trying to commit

suicide and she took about 60 grams. All that happened is she had

vomiting and stomach cramps for several days and then she was fine. I

know you are not going to do anything like that, but I just thought

you would be interested to know that someone took that much without

any permanant damage. As far as long term consumption is concerned,

there does not seem to be any evidence in medical literature that

there is any danger.

 

Kim

 

 

 

, Alobar

<Alobar@G...> wrote:

>

> I am a diabetic who controls my blood glucose levels with diet &

> supplements. I save lots of snippets of information I glean from

> this list, from various websites, and from other sources.

>

> The other day, while looking for something else, I came upon the

> following snippet. It is from 2001, and I was not being careful to

> footnote snippets ack then, so I have no referencing URL.

>

> " A daily dosage of 1,500 to 2,500 mg of niacin or niacinamide may

> improve carbohydrate tolerance in diabetics. Niacin or niacinamide

> diminished the requirements of insulin needed to keep the blood sugar

> of the diabetics within normal limits. The dosage was of the order of

> 500 mg three to five times daily to begin with, the dose being

> subsequently reduced as the blood sugar came down. The Vitamins in

> Medicine, 3rd edition, p 378, 1953, references cited in the text.)

>

> " Persons with vitamin B-3 (niacin) deficiency may show

> hypersensitivity to insulin, becoming hypoglycemic more readily than

> normal subjects after an injection of insulin. (p 342) "

>

> Years ago, I discovered that niacin makes my blood sugar levels go up,

> but niacinamide does not. I already take 500 mg of niacinamide,

> twice a day.

>

> I upped my dose to 500 mg x four times a day. My fasting blood sugar

> levels dropped from 129-135 down to 121 on the first day of increased

> Niacinamide, and down to 111 today. today I am doing 500 mg x five

> times a day.

>

> I have looked on the net for indications of safe upper dose of

> niacinamide. I see that niacin can be toxic in large doses, and

> that nicainamide is safer. I can find warning symptoms, but no clear

> upper safe range for consumption. I did see that Niacin can be used

> in the range of 1.5-6 grams a day for cholesterol control. As

> Niacinamide is supposedly safer than Niacin in large doses, I assume 6

> grams would be OK.

>

> Does anyone here have any thoughts on this?

>

> Alobar

>