What symptoms can you recognize a vitamin B3 deficiency? And what can you do to prevent or replenish such a deficiency of this important vitamin? This is what you want to know about vitamin B3.
What is vitamin B3?
Vitamin B3, also called niacin, is one of the eight B vitamins. Together these vitamins ensure a healthy metabolism. Vitamin B3 ensures that your food is actually converted into energy, and it plays an important role in the production of fatty acids in your body.
What contains a lot of vitamin B3?
Vitamin B3 is found in various different foods. Make sure you eat the following regularly to avoid a deficiency:
- meat, fish (particularly tuna and salmon) and poultry
- whole grain products
- vegetable
- potatoes
- fruit
- nuts and seeds (such as peanuts, chia seeds and sunflower seeds)
Your body also produces B3 from tryptophan, an amino acid found in protein-rich foods. Here you will find useful tips to easily eat more proteins.
Can you take too much vitamin B3?
Whether a high intake of vitamin B is harmful depends on the type of vitamin B. A safe upper limit has not been established for each type. You can consume too much of vitamin B3. This can cause your blood vessels to dilate, causing unpleasant hot flashes. A very high dose can even cause damage to your liver and eyes, so be careful with supplements. Too many of the other B vitamins can cause these symptoms.
How does a vitamin B3 deficiency occur?
With a healthy and varied diet you will quickly get enough vitamin B3 from your diet. Malnutrition can therefore cause a vitamin B3 deficiency. In addition, with excessive alcohol consumption, your body can no longer extract important nutrients from food, which can cause various deficiencies, including vitamin B3 deficiency.
What many people suffer from without knowing it is a vitamin B12 deficiency: you can recognize it by these symptoms.
What are the symptoms of a vitamin B3 deficiency?
The chance that you will develop a vitamin B3 deficiency is small because vitamin B3 is found in many different foods. If you do not get enough of the above foods daily, a vitamin B3 deficiency can ultimately lead to pellagra. You can recognize this disease by the following symptoms:
- diarrhea
- skin conditions
- mucous membrane infections
- dementia and confusion
If you suspect that you may have a vitamin B3 deficiency, contact your doctor. The prognosis with treatment (mainly with supplements) is good, which is why it is important to catch it early.
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Tags: symptoms supplement
