Also known as Niacin or Vitamin P, vitamin B3 is one of the most controversial B vitamins because many experts believe it should be considered as a separate nutrient. Niacin is essential for mental health, helping to you to guard your wellbeing against mental confusion and memory loss, and also serves to lower cholesterol. However, if you take high doses of niacin, this can often cause flushing. So how do you counteract the flushing effect, without compromising your mental or heart health?
According to a new study from the University of Kansas Medical Centre, you may be able to prevent the flushing associated with high doses of niacin if you take a pectin supplement just before taking the B vitamin. While the tolerable upper limit of niacin is set at 35 milligrams per day, as stated by the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS), higher doses are effective for reducing blood lipid levels, but can lead to flushing in your face and upper extremities. Nicotinamide has previously been suggested as an alternative to niacin – as it does not cause flushing – but this supplement doesn’t have the same ability to lower cholesterol.
Led by Patrick Moriarty, MD, the new study, published in the Journal of Clinical Lipidology, found that a dose of apple pectin can have the same flushing-preventing effect as can an aspirin. The study authors wrote, ‘Although larger studies are needed to further support our pilot findings, there are potential applications from our study for clinical practice. Because pectin is a common product considered to be extremely safe and possesses no dose limitations according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation/World Health Organisation, having patients consume dietary pectin (e.g. apple), use a pectin supplement immediately before the administration of niacin, or encapsulating niacin with pectin, may limit niacin-induced flushing.’
For the study, 100 participants were randomly assigned to one of four groups; those who received a placebo, those who had apple pectin, those who consumed aspirin, and those who were given apple pectin and aspirin. Aside from the placebo, all treatments worked to lower the duration of flushing, as well as other flushing parameters. In terms of the effectiveness of apple pectin, the researchers surmised, ‘It is likely the apple pectin prolonged the absorption time of [the extended release niacin] beyond the standard 8-12 hours, thereby resulting in a reduction of flushing symptoms.’