Niacin
Vitamin B3, and the only row on this panel with a percentage substantial enough to argue about.
Vitamin B3, and the one entry on this panel with a percentage worth talking about. Nearly half a day's intake in a single capsule.
What it does
Niacin is the backbone of NAD and NADP, two molecules that every cell in your body uses to shuttle electrons while extracting energy from food. Hundreds of enzymes depend on them. Without niacin nothing works, which is why deficiency is a serious illness rather than a mild complaint.
Why the unit says NE
Niacin equivalents. Your body can manufacture niacin from the amino acid tryptophan, so intake is expressed in a unit that counts both routes; sixty milligrams of tryptophan is reckoned as one milligram NE. It is the reason a protein-rich diet is also, indirectly, a niacin-rich one.
The 47 per cent
Seven and a half milligrams NE against a daily value of sixteen. It is the largest percentage printed anywhere on this carton, and it is the one figure here that would genuinely matter to somebody whose intake was short. Most people in the United States are not short.
On the panel it reads
Niacin — 7.5 mg NE
47% of the daily value
Where it turns up in food
Chicken and turkey breast, tuna, salmon, beef, liver, peanuts, brown rice and fortified cereal. Your body also makes a little from the amino acid tryptophan.
About Niacin
Will this dose cause a niacin flush?
The flush is associated with nicotinic acid at doses of tens to hundreds of milligrams taken at once. Seven and a half milligrams NE is a nutritional amount and well below where that is described.
Is more niacin better?
No. It is a vitamin with an upper limit, and the interesting territory above nutritional intake belongs to medicine rather than to a supplement label.
Where else am I getting it?
Chicken and turkey breast, tuna, salmon, beef, liver, peanuts, brown rice and fortified breakfast cereal. Between food and fortification, most American diets clear the daily value without effort.
The other six entries
Seven entries, all of them printed
No proprietary blend on this label, which is why a page like this one can exist at all.
Checkout, payment and delivery are the seller’s. Sixty days from the date of purchase to ask for your money back, empty bottles included.
