How vitamin B3 could be the secret to living longer and protecting your heart

Discover how a key nutrient in your diet could be the secret to longer life and better heart health with groundbreaking insights into niacin’s role in metabolic and cellular rejuvenation.

Study: Association of dietary niacin intake with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003–2018. Image credits: Shutterstock AI

A study published in the journal Scientific reports shows that dietary intake of vitamin B3 can reduce the risk of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular disease among American adults.

Background

Vitamin B3, also known as niacin, is a water-soluble micronutrient that is vital for several physiological processes. Niacin deficiency can lead to serious health problems, including pellagra, a serious disease characterized by dermatitis, diarrhea, dementia and fatal consequences.

Some countries have introduced niacin fortification of wheat flour and grains to prevent pellagra. In addition, several common foods, including beef, pork, chicken, coffee and tea, contain high amounts of niacin.

This makes niacin a common micronutrient in modern Western diets, especially in the United States, where niacin intake exceeds the recommended daily allowance by three times.

Niacin is known for its therapeutic effects in dyslipidemia. Several studies have shown that niacin can significantly reduce the level of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (bad cholesterol) and increase the level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (good cholesterol) in the blood.

Studies have shown mixed results regarding the cardioprotective effects of niacin. This phenomenon, known as the ‘niacin paradox’, highlights cases where improvements in lipid profile do not consistently lead to better cardiovascular outcomes. Although some studies have found moderately beneficial effects of niacin on cardiovascular events, others have found that niacin does not reduce the risks of cardiovascular events and that it may increase the risk of all-cause mortality.

Given the paucity of information on the impact of niacin on long-term health outcomes, the current study aimed to examine the association between dietary niacin intake and the causes of cardiovascular mortality in the general US population.

Study design

This study involved 26,746 adults who participated in the 2003–2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). The median follow-up period was 9.17 years.

Niacin intake was obtained from two 24-hour dietary interviews. The participants were divided into four groups based on their average intake over two days.

Statistical analyzes were performed to compare the risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality among participants grouped into different quartiles of dietary niacin intake. Sensitivity analyses, such as excluding participants with pre-existing cardiovascular disease (CVD) or cancer, confirmed the robustness of these findings.

Important observations

A total of 3,551 deaths from all causes and 1,096 deaths from cardiovascular events occurred during the follow-up period of the study.

The statistical analyzes showed a negative association between dietary niacin intake and the risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. Participants with the highest niacin intake showed a lower risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality than those with the lowest dietary niacin intake.

A dose-response association was observed between dietary niacin intake and mortality risk, meaning that a reduction in the risk of all-cause mortality and the risk of cardiovascular mortality was observed with increasing dietary niacin intake. the food. However, the benefits leveled off when niacin intake exceeded the median value of 22.45 milligrams per day.

Subgroup analyzes stratified by age, gender, ethnicity, education level, smoking, alcohol consumption, body mass index (BMI) and disease states showed that the impact of dietary niacin intake on the risk of all-cause mortality was significantly greater among -patients. -diabetics compared to diabetic patients.

Regarding the reduction of the risk of cardiovascular mortality, the beneficial impact of niacin intake was observed in some subgroups, including older adults, women, non-Hispanic white individuals, higher education, obesity, smoking, non-hypertension, non-diabetes , non-dyslipidemia and non-cardiovascular disease. Baseline characteristics revealed that individuals with higher niacin intake tended to be younger, more educated, and more likely to smoke or consume alcohol.

Study the meaning

The study finds an inverse association between dietary niacin intake and the risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in the U.S. adult population.

Niacin intake may be beneficial because it improves the metabolism of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD). As an NAD precursor, niacin can increase NAD levels, subsequently improve cellular metabolism and mitochondrial functions, and reduce DNA damage, inflammation, cell death, and cell aging through various mechanisms.

Niacin has been shown to reduce muscle mass loss associated with chemotherapy in cancer patients by restoring tissue NAD levels and improving mitochondrial metabolism. Niacin has also been found to increase muscle performance in adult-onset mitochondrial myopathy by reducing systemic NAD deficiency and increasing mitochondrial biogenesis and functionality.

These observations provide insight into how niacin reduces mortality risk.

The cardiovascular benefits of niacin may be attributed to its role as a lipid-lowering agent. As a potent G protein-coupled receptor agonist, niacin can inhibit lipolysis and reduce the production of free fatty acids.

Recent research highlights how niacin-derived metabolites, such as 2PY and 4PY, can activate inflammatory pathways that contribute to cardiovascular risk. This underlines the need for continued evaluation of niacin’s dual health effects.

The study shows that niacin intake has a more pronounced effect on reducing the risk of all-cause mortality in non-diabetic patients. In this context, previous studies have shown that niacin increases the risk of diabetes by increasing blood sugar levels and reducing insulin sensitivity.

These observations suggest that higher niacin intake might be recommended to reduce the risk of all-cause mortality in nondiabetics, but not in diabetic patients.

Further research is needed to clarify the variable effects of niacin across populations and its role as an NAD modulator versus a lipid-lowering agent in reducing long-term health risks.