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Niacin flush

chainsaw

Well-known member
Taking niacin for cholesterol. The flush is pretty intense. Is there an optimal time to take it. 1st thing morning? With or without food? Preworkout?
 
With food, especially fats. To minimize flush, avoid taking it on an empty stomach.
 
oh man, I had took some niacin at work one time without knowing about the flush, my god all my pores opened up, I was bright red, my heart rate went through the roof and I thought I was dying... nearly got an ambulance called and I just pretended I was overly stressed and it was a panic attack, got like 3 days off work haha
 
Beau said:
With food, especially fats. To minimize flush, avoid taking it on an empty stomach.
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This. As long as I take it with food I have no issue. If I take it on an empty stomach or first thing in the morning is when I have an issue.
 
It's a very common side effect. You can try some of the posters ideas but it's possible Niacin might not be for you.
 
As a note - at one point I had worked up to 3 grams per day of Niacin (I am not recommending others do so, just reporting what I chose to do). I would take much of it pre-workout, and then sit in the steam room - prior to working out. I will allow you to come up with your own image of a sweaty guy, whose skin color resembled a tomato, working out next to you.

But - what I found was that my flush reaction lessened over time - a lot. That may, or may not, help.
 
Generally ...

Niacin comes from in several forms: (1) “true niacin”/nicotinic acid, (2) nicotinamide (also known as Niacinamide), a nicotinic acid amide, and (3) other derivatives (such as inositol hexanicotinate).

Niacin in the form of nicotinic acid can lower triglycerides and increase high-density lipoprotein. HDL helps remove low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. Niacin/nicotinic acid is a B vitamin that's used by the body to turn food into energy. It also helps maintain nervous system, digestive system, and skin health.

As to its cholesterol benefits, Niacin/nicotinic acid can allegedly lower triglycerides by 25% and raise HDL cholesterol by more than 30%. The skin flush that may result from Niacin/nicotinic acid is the result of vasodilation.

Although it is similar in structure to Niacin/nicotinic acid, Nicotinamide contains an amide group absent in nicotinic acid -- the addition of that amide group alters the therapeutic effects. Niacinamide, does not have the same vasodilating effect that Niacin/nicotinic acid has, thus it does not have the same skin flush as Niacin/nicotinic acid.

So, that amide group addition in Niacinamide is the reason that Niacinamide does not impact cholesterol in the same way as Niacin/nicotinic acid.

As to the specific reasons this is the case – well that is way beyond my (novice) level of understanding.
 
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Smont said:
What makes the flushing version so much better for cholesterol? I've always heard that but never really looked into it myself
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Yep, basically what @Beau said.

We changed a compound and now it does (at least) 2 things differently: It doesn't help with Cholesterol, and it doesn't cause flushing.
 
Renew1 said:
Yep, basically what @Beau said.

We changed a compound and now it does (at least) 2 things differently: It doesn't help with Cholesterol, and it doesn't cause flushing.
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I missed that, but ya definitely has to be truth to that because I've only seen positive results with regular niacin
 
Beau said:
Generally ...

Niacin comes from in several forms: (1) “true niacin”/nicotinic acid, (2) nicotinamide (also known as Niacinamide), a nicotinic acid amide, and (3) other derivatives (such as inositol hexanicotinate).

Niacin in the form of nicotinic acid can lower triglycerides and increase high-density lipoprotein. HDL helps remove low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. Niacin/nicotinic acid is a B vitamin that's used by the body to turn food into energy. It also helps maintain nervous system, digestive system, and skin health.

As to its cholesterol benefits, Niacin/nicotinic acid can allegedly lower triglycerides by 25% and raise HDL cholesterol by more than 30%. The skin flush that may result from Niacin/nicotinic acid is the result of vasodilation.

Although it is similar in structure to Niacin/nicotinic acid, Nicotinamide contains an amide group absent in nicotinic acid -- the addition of that amide group alters the therapeutic effects. Niacinamide, does not have the same vasodilating effect that Niacin/nicotinic acid has, thus it does not have the same skin flush as Niacin/nicotinic acid.

So, that amide group addition in Niacinamide is the reason that Niacinamide does not impact cholesterol in the same way as Niacin/nicotinic acid.

As to the specific reasons this is the case – well that is way beyond my (novice) level of understanding.
Click to expand...
Ok now I see it lol
 
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