Niacin May Benefit Mental Health

Now a new study in mice has found that vitamin B3, also known as Niacin, with a recommended daily intake of 16 mg per day in men and 14 mg per day in women, may help with mental health. Niacin is found in foods such as yeast, meat, fish, milk, eggs, green vegetables, and cereal grains.

In the study, researchers fed 4-month old mice 200 mg of Niacin per kg of bodyweight through their drinking water for 4 months. During this time, the mice completed a Morris Water Maze (MWM) that requires and includes finding a hidden platform in a maze. The MWM requires use of a part of the brain called the hippocampus which deteriorates during AD.

The mice in the niacin group performed 33% better than the control group, finding the platform in 4 days compared to 6 days for the control group. Nicacin also “rescued both short- and long-term memory” compared to the control group “as determined by the marked increase in the number of platform crosses and reduced [time needed] to cross the platform.”

The researchers suggested that Niacin elicited these benefits by targeting two enzymes called HATs and HDACs whose decreased function has been linked to several human diseases including cancer and neurodegenerative disorders. For the researchers, “the results presented here suggest that [Niacin] has potential as a novel, safe, and inexpensive AD therapy.”

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Danville, CA. You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at mailto:PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.CompleteChiropracticHealthcare.com

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