Vitamin B3 (or Niacin) supplementation has benefits that may extend to energy production, cognition, and longevity. This is because niacin supplementation increases cellular nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) levels. NAD is essential to cellular energy production, immune system, stress response, and healthy aging. NAD is essential for healthy brain function, as well as healthy nerves. 

We included niacinamide (the preferred version of niacin) at 100% of Australian Recommended Dietary Intake in order to support mental energy production and for optimal cognitive function. 

Main benefits for Savvy:

• Improves energy levels and focus
• Assists with resilience to stress and anxiety
• Improves cognition
• Anti inflammatory benefits
• Improved mood and quality of life
• Anti inflammatory properties
• Improvement of cognitive function

 Scientifically Proven Health Benefits of Niacinamide

To make it easy to identify all the different studies - we will highlight them for you!  

We really hope you enjoy our many years of research when formulating Savvy...

Benefit 1: Improves energy levels and focus

Belenky, P, et al. ‘NAD+ metabolism in health and disease’ in Trends of Biochemical Sciences Review, Volume 32, Issue 1, January 2007, pp 12-19 [Link]

“Nicotinamide is part of two essential coenzymes for energy production and DNA repair – nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and NAD phosphate (NADP)”

Hoffman, JR, et al, ‘The effects of acute and prolonged CRAM supplementation on reaction time and subjective measures of focus and alertness in healthy college students.’ in Journal of the international society of sports nutrition, Volume 7, issue 39, December 2010 [Link]

“Results indicate that acute ingestion of CRAM can maintain reaction time, and subjective feelings of focus and alertness to both visual and auditory stimuli in healthy college students following exhaustive exercise… The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of acute and prolonged (4-weeks) ingestion of a supplement designed to improve reaction time and subjective measures of alertness, energy, fatigue, and focus...CRAM; α-glycerophosphocholine, choline bitartrate, phosphatidylserine, vitamins B3, B6, and B12, folic acid, L-tyrosine, anhydrous caffeine, acetyl-L-carnitine, and naringin… Reaction time significantly declined..”

Benefit 2: Assists with resilience to stress and anxiety

Möhler H, et al. ‘Nicotinamide is a brain constituent with benzodiazepine-like actions’ in Nature: International journal of science, Volume 278, April 1979, pp 563-565. [Link]

“We describe here the isolation and benzodiazepine-like actions of nicotinamide, a compound which might exert these actions in the brain physiologically.”

Stough, C, et al. ‘The effect of 90 day administration of a high dose vitamin B-complex on work stress.’ in Human Psychopharmacology. Volume 26, Issue 7, October 2011, pp 470-476 [Link]

“Sixty participants completed the 3-month, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial in which personality, work demands, mood, anxiety and strain were assessed. ...the vitamin B complex treatment groups reported significantly lower personal strain and a reduction in confusion and depressed/dejected mood after 12 weeks. The results of the study are consistent with two previous studies examining…supplementation of a B multivitamin.”

Benefit 3: Improves cognition

La Rue A, et al. ‘Nutritional status and cognitive functioning in a normally aging sample: a 6-y reassessment.’ in The American journal of clinical nutrition, Volume 65, Issue 1, January 1997 pp 20-29 [Link] 

“Several significant associations (P < 0.05) were observed between cognition and concurrent vitamin status, including better abstraction performance with higher biochemical status and dietary intake of thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, and folate (rs = 0.19-0.29) and better visuospatial performance...Higher past intake of vitamins E, A, B-6, and B-12 was related to better performance on visuospatial recall and/or abstraction tests (rs = 0.19-0.28). Use of self-selected vitamin supplements was associated with better performance on a difficult visuospatial test and an abstraction test.”

Wang W and Liang B, ‘Case report of mental disorder induced by niacin deficiency.’ in Shanghai archives of psychiatry, Volume 24, Issue 6, December 2012, pp 352-354. [Link]

“The above is indicative of brain fog and even psychiatric symptoms have been associated with niacin deficiency.”

Benefit 4: Anti inflammatory benefits

Niren, NM, ‘Pharmacologic doses of nicotinamide in the treatment of inflammatory skin conditions: a review.’ in Cutis, Volumen 77, Issue 1, January 2006, pp 11 - 16. [Link]

“This article reviews the substantial number of reports published over the past 50 years that document the clinical utility and safety of oral and topical formulations of nicotinamide for the treatment of a variety of inflammatory skin conditions.”

Denu, J. ‘Vitamin B3 and sirtuin function’ in Trends in Biochemical Sciences research focus, Volume 30, Issue 9, September 2005, pp 479 -483  [Link]

“Inhibits the activity of sirtuins – proteins that play important roles in aging, cell death and inflammation – can decrease neurodegenerative and age-associated memory impairment”

Gasperi, Valeria et al. ‘Niacin in the central nervous system: an update of biological aspects and clinical applications.’ International journal of molecular sciences. Volume 20. Issue 4. 2019. pp. 974 [Link]

This literature review summarises the ability of Niacin in managing neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease. Connection of the vitamin deficiency with other neurological diseases like Ischemic and traumatic injuries, headache and psychiatric disorder is also found from this literature.

Seamon, Marissa, et al. ‘Niacin for Parkinson's disease.’ Clinical and Experimental Neuroimmunology. Volume 11. Issue 1. 2020. pp. 47-56 [Link]

This literature review summarises Niacin drug trials conducted on Parkinson’s diseases. The use of Niacin seemed to delay the progression of inflammation in the brain that is caused by molecules like Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and cytokines in Parkinson’s patients.

Giri, Banabihari, et al. ‘Niacin ameliorates neuroinflammation in Parkinson’s disease via GPR109A.’ International journal of molecular sciences. Volume 20. Issue 18. 2019. pp. 4559. [Link]

The research study identifies the mechanism through which Niacin exerts an anti-inflammatory effect against Parkinson’s disease. The anti-inflammatory effect is found to be mediated by a macrophage RAW264.7.

Moutinho, Miguel, et al. ‘Therapeutic potential of niacin in Alzheimer's disease: Nonhuman/Target identification and validation studies: Other.’ Alzheimer's & Dementia. Volume 16. 2020. pp. E040679 [Link]

This research study identifies that the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and age-related cognitive decline is reduced by Niacin that acts as a neuroprotector. 100 mg Niacin/ kg of Niacin was orally administered for 30 days and preliminary studies found that the neuroprotection effect is through the reduction in neuronal loss.

Rawji, Khalil S., et al. ‘Niacin-mediated rejuvenation of macrophage/microglia enhances remyelination of the aging central nervous system.’ Acta neuropathologica. 2020. pp. 1-17 [Link]

The research paper identifies the improved remyelination effect through Niacin administration in the demyelinated Central Nervous System. The vitamin treatment on 9-12 months old demyelinated mice promoted myelin debris clearance in lesions while also helping in remyelination. Thus Niacin is found to be safe and can be used as a regenerative therapy for chronic demyelinating diseases like Multiple Sclerosis.

Djadjo, Soraya, and Tushar Bajaj. ‘Niacin (nicotinic acid).’ StatPearls [Internet]. 2020. [Link]

Niacin “plays a role in both neuroprotection and neuronal death, giving it the utmost importance in the proper functioning of the Central Nervous System, neuronal development, and function.”

Niacin administration is found to “decrease the incidences of cardiovascular events, premature ageing, age-associated neurological disorders such as Alzheimer disease, Huntington disease, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Muscular atrophy, Parkinson disease, squamous cell carcinoma”. It is also used as a therapeutic agent in the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases.

Benefit 5: Improves mood and subjective quality of life

Lewis, J, E. et al. ‘The Effect of Methylated Vitamin B Complex on Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms and Quality of Life in Adults with Depression’ in Journal of International Scholarly Research Notices Psychiatry, Volume 2013, Article ID 621453, pp 1-7. [Link]

“The Max Stress B [B1,2,3,6,12 combination]  formula showed modest improvements in mood and mental health according to the BDI, BAI, and SF-36, making our findings consistent with the prior studies. Thus, our study shows that a high quality, whole-food dietary supplement may offer an opportunity for adults with depression to improve mood symptoms and quality of life.”

Jonsson, B H, ‘Nicotinic Acid Long-Term Effectiveness in a Patient with Bipolar Type II Disorder: A Case of Vitamin Dependency’ in Nutrients, Volume 10, Issue 2, February 2018, pp 134 [Link]

“When NA (Nicotinic Acid) was prescribed, the purpose was to decrease anxiety. As this effect emerged, it was easy to stop diazepam and zolpidem. However, that the effect in this patient also stabilised his mood was a surprise.”

Cornish, S and Mehl-Madrona, L, ‘The Role of Vitamins and Minerals in Psychiatry’ in Integrative Medicine Insights, Volume 3, September 2008, pp 33-42. [Link]

“It is supposed that the favorable therapeutic effects of nicotinamide, nicotinic acid and their active biological form—NAD—are realized due to the mechanisms of their functioning in the nervous system, for treating schizophrenia, epilepsy and other diseases of the nervous system”.

Panahizadeh, Sima, et al. ‘The effect of intraperitoneal administration of vitamin B3 (Niacin) on the model of postpartum depression in adult female mice.’ Jundishapur Scientific Medical Journal. Volume 17. Issue 4. 2018. pp. 449-456 [Link]

Niacin, at two doses, a single dose of 50 mg/Kg and a dose of 50 mg/ KG for 8 days caused a reduction in depression by Post-partum. The animal study done on female mice showed the effects of Niacin in reducing postpartum depression.

Kim, Yoonji, et al. ‘Association of the Anxiety/Depression with Nutrition Intake in Stroke Patients.’ Clinical nutrition research. Volume 7. Issue 1. 2018. pp. 11-20.

The research study identifies that intake of Niacin and Riboflavin in Stroke patients reduced the symptoms of depression compared to patients not treated with the vitamins. This infers the association of the nutrients and depression of stroke patients.

Gasperi, Valeria et al. ‘Niacin in the central nervous system: an update of biological aspects and clinical applications.’ International journal of molecular sciences. Volume 20. Issue 4. 2019. pp. 974 [Link]

“Besides Dermatitis and Diarrhoea, niacin deficit symptoms also include several nervous system pathologies, such as dementia and depression….”

Redzic, Sasa, and Vikas Gupta. ‘Niacin Deficiency.’ StatPearls [Internet]. 2020 [Link]

Niacin deficiency initially involves “neurological changes such as anxiety, poor concentration, fatigue, and depression…”

Liu, Zhuxi et al. ‘Nicotinamide, a vitamin B3 ameliorates depressive behaviors independent of SIRT1 activity in mice.’ Molecular Brain. Volume 13. Issue 1. 2020. pp. 1-7 [Link]

This study researches that a form of Vitamin B3, Nicotinamide is capable of reducing depression behaviour and could be a potential treatment method for depression by regulating ATP activity.

Ryan, Karen M., et al ‘Blood plasma B vitamins in depression and the therapeutic response to electroconvulsive therapy.’ Brain, Behavior, & Immunity-Health. Volume 4. 2020. pp. 100063 [Link]

The research study identifies that Nicotinamide concentrations were significantly reduced in patients with depression compared to control. Overall, depression is related to low plasma B vitamin concentrations.

Benefit 6: Helps to prevent cognitive decline

Morris, MC et al, ‘Dietary niacin and the risk of incident Alzheimer's disease and of cognitive decline.’ in Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry, Volume 75, Issue 8, August 2004, pp 1093-1099. [Link]

“Dietary niacin may protect against AD and age related cognitive decline.”