Niacin is an organic compoundand, depending on the definition used, one of the 20 to 80 essential human nutrients. Not enough niacin in the diet can cause nausea, skin and mouth lesions, anemia, headaches, and tiredness. Chronic Niacin deficiency leads to a disease called pellagra. The lack of niacin may also be observed in pandemic deficiency disease which is caused by a lack of five crucial vitamins: niacin, vitamin C, thiamin, vitamin D and vitamin A, and is usually found in areas of widespread poverty and malnutrition. Niacin cannot be directly converted to nicotinamide, but both compounds could be converted to and are precursors of NAD and NADP in vivo. The term Niacin refers to nicotinic acid and Nicotinamide, which are both used by the body to form the coenzymes, Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phospate (NADP).
-93055.jpg)