Niacin
Niacin is the vitamin that is found in nutritional supplements that makes you feel itchy and flush. However, it is a very powerful vitamin also known as vitamin B3 and is proven to help raise your good cholesterol. It can treat high cholesterol and triglyceride levels as well as niacin deficiency and can reduce the risk of heart attack and slow narrowing of the arteries. It is commonly administer to patients by doctors alongside prescription drugs in order to manage a patient’s cholesterol. Niacin has been used for over fifty years in atherosclerosis treatment. However, the evolution of modern drugs has reduced it use slightly. There is more focus being placed on niacin in recent years due to the its ability to benefit atherosclerosis and endothelial function both ‘lipid-targeted’ and ‘pleiotropic’. Niacin raises a patient’s HDL (high density lipoprotein), which is responsible for scrubbing your veins and picking up deposit fat and cholesterol throughout your body. So more HDL is good and niacin helps increase HDL production. There are other benefits to Niacin which include healthy skin, hair nails and reduction of inflammation in people suffering from arthritis.
Although you can take niacin in a supplement, your best natural food source will be as follows:
Top 10 Niacin Rich Foods
1) Turkey
1 breast: 101 mg (over 100% DV)
2) Chicken breast
3 oz: 8.9 mg (44% DV)
3) Peanuts
1 cup: 21.9 mg (over 100% DV)
4) Mushrooms
1 cup: 7.6 mg (34% DV)
5) Liver
1 slice: 11.9 mg (60% DV)
6) Tuna
3 oz: 11.3 mg (56% DV)
7) Green peas
1 cup: 3 mg (15% DV)
8) Grass-fed Beef
3oz: 7.6 mg (36% DV)
9) Sunflower seeds
1 cup: 3.8 mg (19% DV)
10) Avocado
1 whole fruit: 3.5 (17% DV)
- Neil Ruparelia et al Curr Opin Cardiol. (2011) Effects of niacin on atherosclerosis and vascular function. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3145140/
