Vitamin B3 deficiency, also known as niacin deficiency, can cause symptoms such as nausea, anemia, and tiredness. If left untreated, it can lead to pellagra, a serious condition with skin lesions and mental problems. Vitamin B3 is important for energy metabolism, cholesterol control, and DNA maintenance. Good dietary sources include red meat, milk, eggs, nuts, and legumes. Pellagra is more common in areas with poor diets, particularly in South America, and in long-term alcoholics.
In medicine, a vitamin B3 deficiency is a nutritional deficiency of vitamin B3, which is also called niacin. Symptoms of vitamin B3 deficiency can include nausea, skin and mouth lesions, anemia, headaches, and tiredness. If left untreated, a chronic vitamin B3 deficiency can lead to a condition called pellagra.
Pellagra is a serious condition that begins with lesions that appear on the skin where it has been exposed to sunlight. Other symptoms include inflammation of the skin and mucous membranes, stomach problems, and depression or other mental problems. Chronic vitamin B3 deficiency and pellagra are more commonly found in people with a poor diet, particularly in areas of South America where many people have diets consisting primarily of corn. While corn does contain niacin, it is not present in a form that is readily absorbed by the body unless the corn is treated with lime before milling. Another group of people at risk for niacin deficiency are long-term alcoholics, where pellagra is more commonly seen in affluent societies.
Some of the important functions of vitamin B3 include energy metabolism, cholesterol level control, and regulation of the hormone insulin, which helps regulate blood sugar. In addition, niacin plays a vital role in maintaining the deoxyribose nucleic acid (DNA) genetic material in living cells. This suggests that niacin may play a role in preventing DNA damage and cancer.
Treating a vitamin B3 deficiency is usually straightforward. In a healthy adult, if enough protein is consumed, vitamin B3 is normally present in abundant supplies. Vitamin B3 can be absorbed directly from protein sources, or it can be produced in the liver from the amino acid tryptophan.
Some good dietary sources of tryptophan and niacin include red meat, milk, eggs, nuts, and legumes. Since niacin is a stable substance, it is generally not destroyed by cooking. Vitamin dietary supplements can be taken to increase niacin intake, but supplementation is generally not considered necessary if a normal, varied diet is consumed.
In addition to specific vitamin B3 deficiency syndromes, a lack of niacin can also be seen in pandemic deficiency disease, a condition in which five crucial vitamins are in short supply in the body. These key vitamins are niacin, thiamine, vitamin C, vitamin A, and vitamin D. Both pandemic deficiency disease and vitamin B3 deficiency generally occur in regions where widespread conditions of poverty and malnutrition exist.
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