For a few years now I’ve been intending to look more into the topic of niacin. But, being too busy with other things I just hadn’t found the time for it. However, this year I guess you could say that I ran into it head on.
As I had discussed in my nine-year update post, I changed over from eating rice and replaced it with a white sourdough bread for a while. That change was mostly due to the potential arsenic risk from eating too much rice. Secondly, it was just because I wanted a break from eating rice three times a day.
Unfortunately, eating wheat flour grown in Canada also presents a serious glyphosate risk. So, you are kind of damned if you do and damned if you don’t when it comes to choosing between these two staple foods. But, I was lucky to find a local organic wheat producer here in Alberta that certified that his flour was glyphosate free. With that, I was off and running. I started baking my own sourdough bread that contained only four ingredients: flour, water, salt, and a bit of sourdough starter (which is also mostly flour). Of course, I was still including the bison/beef, and beans (occasionally) in my meals too.
I gotta say that eating freshly baked sourdough bread was a nice tasty break from the bland rice. But, it was still a bit too plain to have on its own. So I decided to add a good thick smear of honey to it, making it especially delicious when toasted. Great, I was all set with my new 0 IU vA rice replacement food, albeit probably consuming 2-3 times more calories per day. What could possibly go wrong with that plan?
Well for about the first eight months nothing did go wrong. I wasn’t tracking my calories, and was eating probably about ⅓ loaf of bread per day, and a rather obscene amount of honey too. My honey consumption was probably 450g per week. That’s crazy, I know. However, I had a plan, and that was once I started to gain weight I’d just cut back on the volume. But, something even crazier happened. In those eight months I did not gain a single pound. My weight remained right in the 160-163 lb range. In addition to that, over that same time period I had significantly cut back on my daily exercise too (another story for another time).
So, that was quite an intriguing little sub-experiment. We’ve all been told that carbs are one of the primary drivers of weight gain and obesity. But, this experience clearly proved that theory to not be true (aw but, yes it is under different conditions). We’ve also been told that the simplistic math of: calories in – calories out = weight gain / loss. Once again, that too is clearly not true. Last I checked, the human body does not burn calories in an internal combustion engine. Anyhow, I’ll write more on this topic another time.
I did have a few slight issues with the bread and honey strategy though. One, I was not quite as regular as I was used to being over the last eight or so years. However, that was a very minor change really. The other issue was I felt my teeth were less clean and smooth throughout the day as they were when I was on the rice. Once again, it was not a big difference, just slightly noticeable.
So, it was all good – until it wasn’t. Right around the eight month point on this changed diet I had a huge negative response. And it showed up almost abruptly over a 3-day period. My scalp had become incredibly dry and itchy. Over the next week I experienced a ridiculous amount of dandruff. It was like nothing I’ve ever experienced before in my life. And I’ve never before had an issue with dandruff. It was so bad that if I brushed my hair over my desk it was like it snowed on it. Except, this was not at all like what happened ~ 10 years ago with the eczema I had on the backs of my hands. With the eczema condition, not only were my hands shedding (flaking off) huge amounts of dead skin, they were very highly inflamed too. Whereas, this dry scalp condition was not accompanied with inflammation; I’d say pretty much none at all. Additionally, at this same time I had not experienced any other negative health issues. Overall, I still felt really quite good.
Clearly, my excessive consumption of bread and honey had backfired on me. But how and why?
I immediately stopped consuming the bread and within about 4-5 days there was an improvement, maybe only by ~ 5% – 10%, but still noticeable. I went for another week without the bread, and then re-challenged myself with it again (and without the honey). The reaction was almost immediate. Over the next few days my head was definitely dryer and the intensity of the itchiness had noticeably increased.
What the hell had gone so wrong? Was this nature’s punishment for my indiscretion and gluttony? Maybe so?
Had I developed a gluten sensitivity? I didn’t think so because I did not have any GI issues.
Okay, time to read the label on that nice locally grown organic glyphosate-free flour.
There it was, the second ingredient: Niacin, my new primary suspect.
It turns out that there is federal legislation that mandates that all wheat flour (and some other grains) milled in Canada must be “fortified” with Niacin. It’s mandatory even in the “organic” grown flours. Yes, that all-knowing, benevolent government of ours is just looking out for our own good and making sure we get enough of another essential “vitamin”. Oh man! Here we go again.
Next question: What are the symptoms of Niacin toxicity? Wow!, there’s a list of them as long as your arm, with some being:
- Darkening of urine
- light gray-colored stools
- loss of appetite
- severe stomach pain
- yellow eyes or skin
- cough
- diarrhea
- feeling of warmth
- flushing or redness of the skin, especially on the face and neck
- headache
- nausea or vomiting
- rash or itching
- runny nose
- sneezing
- stuffy nose
- Dizziness or faintness
- dryness of the skin
- fever
- frequent urination
- joint pain
- muscle aching or cramping
- side, lower back, or stomach pain
- swelling of the feet or lower legs
- unusual thirst
- unusual tiredness or weakness
- unusually fast, slow, or irregular heartbeat
https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements/niacin-oral-route/side-effects/drg-20065086
From the Mount Siani.org site we have this warning and summary :
However, at high doses niacin can be toxic.
… side effects can be unpleasant and even dangerous. High doses of niacin cause:
- Flushing of the skin
- Stomach upset (which usually subsides within a few weeks)
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Blurred vision
- An increased risk of liver damage
Okay, doesn’t this sound familiar? An essential vitamin that becomes severely toxic if you consume too much of it. Yep, we’ve all heard that one before too. Another similarity with so-called vitamin A is that Niacin is also a generic umbrella term for other more specific molecules. One is niacinamide, the substance “fortified” into our flour and breakfast cereals. Another one is called nicotinic acid, and it somehow has quite a different pharmacological profile to it.
And would you look at that, included among that long list of adverse reactions are rash or itching, and dryness of the skin.
Next question: How does niacin work (what’s its mechanism of action)?
Pretty much every research paper I’ve read on niacin documents that it interferes with, or “modulates” lipogenesis. Thus, niacin has been used since the 1950’s as the go-to drug to suppress the lipogenesis of LDL cholesterol. That is until the vastly more profitable statins were brought on to the market. However, niacin’s suppression of lipogenesis is even more aggressive in the sebocytes of the sebaceous glands.
Oh, okay, niacin blocks the sebaceous glands from producing sebum. Hmm… what area of the skin has the highest concentrations of sebaceous glands? The face, scalp, chest and hands. Oh, I see, if you consume too much niacin you’ll end up drying out your skin, and probably mostly your scalp, face and hands. Wow, nice work guys! That’s more freak’n rock-solid nutrition “science” for us.
Well, that all seemed to fit my new condition. But was it really the niacin, and not the gluten, or maybe my excessive honey consumption that was at the root cause of it? It turns out that it was very easy for me to test. We have a German bakery nearby and they bring in their pre-made bread dough from Germany on a regular basis (thus getting around the fortification legislation on flour milled in or imported into Canada). An interesting little fact is that niacin is generally not added to the flour in Germany (nor France, and many other European countries). Yeah, that’s right, apparently, it’s only Canadians, Americans, and North Africans that have the critical requirement for the “essential” vitamin. For some reason Europeans don’t seem to need it so much. I’m sure it must just be a genetic thing going on there. No! You are not supposed to think about that, and you most certainly aren’t allowed to ask any pesky questions like this next one either!
What’s the single most common symptom of gluten intolerance? Answer: severe stomach pain.
Now, what’s at the top of the list of symptoms of niacin toxicity? Answer: severe stomach pain.
Here’s a recent article on it highlighting just how ridiculously absurd the situation is.
“I Can’t Tolerate Gluten In The U.S., But I Can In Europe’: Experts Unpack The Phenomenon
Many people who are sensitive to gluten claim they can eat all the bread and pasta they want when travelling abroad. How could this be true?
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/eat-gluten-europe-us_l_63514ef1e4b04cf8f380beda
One of their brilliant theories is:
Movement is another factor. You might end up walking around museums or strolling through shops after you eat when visiting Europe. Research shows that walking after meals can help with digestion, which might relieve stomach aches or discomfort.
You see, the problem is that people in North America just don’t have enough museums to visit after lunch and therefore not much reason to get up and walk around. The so-called experts “unpack the phenomenon” for us with this incredibly deep thinking:
Being relaxed, eating fresh, unprocessed foods and walking more could help people vacationing feel better in general and aid in their digestion,” Baker said. “There could be a placebo effect.
Thus, in addition to the lack of museums it’s the placebo effect. You see, it’s all in their heads, and people are only imagining that they are not experiencing severe stomach pain when eating bread products in Europe.
Obviously, the stupidity of such an explanation is off the charts. Except, it’s not stupidity; it’s pharma propaganda. Notice there’s no mention of North American niacin fortification in that article. Of course not, because they definitely don’t want anyone to ask if so-called gluten sensitivity could actually be niacin toxicity. No, that could be very bad for business. Thus the “experts” sure don’t want to mention the weird coincidence that severe stomach pain is one of the key symptoms of both niacin toxicity and so-called gluten sensitivity.
I mean, seriously, it just can’t get to be any more obvious. When people with the condition eat bread “fortified” with niacin they get severe stomach pain. When these same people eat bread that’s not “fortified with niacin they’re fine. And, the primary symptom of niacin toxicity is severe stomach pain. Really, what am I missing here? I’m a bit surprised the “experts” didn’t try to blame it on global warming!
Okay, let’s get back on track here. I started consuming the German bread (buns actually) and pretty much smothered it with honey for multiple weeks. Reaction? None what-so-ever, other than my dry scalp condition continued progressively improving. Overall, it took me about five more months to fully recover.
So, yes, it was niacin.
This is all rather incredible for multiple reasons:
- I overdosed on niacin strictly by consuming food, and no supplements what-so-ever. And I only consumed it in bread, and in no other foods. And the amount of bread I consumed is probably in the range of what many people do regularly consume.
- This is supposed to be a water-soluble “vitamin”. Yet, clearly it does bioaccumulate, or its effects bioaccumulate. Either way, in only eight months I had reached a toxic dose / exposure level to it via bread-consumption alone. That means that nearly everyone who regularly eats niacin laced bread & cereal products in North America will no doubt have also reached a similar exposure level.
- With niacin proven to dry out the skin by suppressing the sebaceous glands, is it any wonder why so many people in North America suffer from chronic dry skin and dandruff too?
Check out these little ditties:
Dry skin: Who gets and causes
American Academy of Dermatology
https://www.aad.org › public › diseases › dry-skin-causes
By 60 years of age nearly everyone has dry skin.
Geez, so after say 20 or 30 years of consuming niacin daily we’ll ALL have dry skin. You don’t say?
And this…
A New Postulate on Two Stages of Dandruff: A Clinical …
National Institutes of Health (NIH) (.gov)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov › articles › PMC3129121
by F Manuel · 2011 · Cited by 70 — [6] One survey in the USA has shown that about 50 million people suffer from dandruff, and that nearly $300 million is spent on various dandruff treatments..
Hmm…. maybe that $300 million annually is one of the real reasons Niacin is so “essential?”
- The meibomian glands of the eyes are sebaceous glands too, they are just more specialized ones. So won’t long term niacin exposure dry out the eyes too? Of course it will!
Dry Eye Statistics in 2023
https://dryeyedirectory.com › Blog
Looking for dry eye statistics in the USA? Current data shows between 16 million and 49 million Americans have dry eyes.
So, in total we are easily talking about 150 million people in just North America alone with chronic dry eyes, dry skin etc… and niacin is proven to cause that to happen. Since niacin is added to most of our staple flour products and cereals… could there possibly be a connection? Nah, it’s all probably just a coincidence.
I mean, after all, if there were a connection then you’d think that at least one of our genius ophthalmologists and dermatologists would have figured it out by now, right? Well, apparently not, even though it only takes about 10 minutes of “intense research” to find the connections.
Next question: What’s the annual market size for eye drops in the USA alone?
In 2022 it was : 15.22 Billion USD !!
And another question: How big is the skin moisturizer market?
Global Moisturizing Cream Market size was valued at USD 10.12 billion in 2022 and is poised to grow from USD 10.57 billion in 2023 to USD 15.01 billion by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 4.48% in the forecast period (2024-2031).
And one last question: How big is the niacin market?
The global niacin and niacinamide market was valued at US$ 1.2 Billion in 2021 and is expected to reach US$ 2.5 Billion by 2032.
Okay, now I see why no one has figured this out. Clearly there is a massive epidemic of dry eyes, and dry skin going on in North America. Except oddly, one that the CDC and Health Canada are somehow completely ignoring? My bet is that the real origin of the federal legislation that mandates niacin to be supplemented into all wheat flour is rooted in that multi-billion dollar annual revenue stream.
Oh, except, let’s not forget that we’ve all been told that vA deficiency is the primary cause of dry eyes (scientifically termed xerophthalmia). Which of course is completely impossible in North America. Here’s the correct scientific term for what’s really going on; it’s called a SCAM !!
Now, let me get this straight.
- They’ve poisoned most of our dairy products, and a bunch of our other foods with the highly toxic, vile, disgusting, yellow vitamin imposter called “vitamin A” – claiming that it’s for our own good.
- They’ve additionally poisoned many of our dairy products with another highly toxic, vile, disgusting vitamin imposter called “vitamin D” – claiming that it’s for our own good.
- They’ve poisoned most of our bread and cereal products with another toxic vitamin imposter called Niacin – claiming that it’s for our own good.
- They’ve additionally poisoned most of our bread and cereal products with another highly toxic, and proven carcinogen, called glyphosate – claiming that it’s for our own good.
- They’ve poisoned most of our water supply with a known, and completely proven to be, neurotoxin called fluoride – claiming that it’s for our own good.
- They’ve poisoned most of our rice with lead-arsenic – claiming that it was all done for our own good.
- They are funding mass marketing and other programs deceiving people into eating loads of high carotenoid content foods like sweet potatoes, leafy green vegetables, and “golden” rice. – claiming that it’s for our own good
- They are additionally funding mass marketing and other promotional programs deceiving people into taking loads of rat poison, but disguised as vitamin D,. – claiming that it’s for our own good
- As many people’s bodies have become fat and even obese as a defensive measure against all of the poisonings, the psychopathic criminals trick people into injecting themselves with potentially lethal aqueous phenol.
- They’ve poisoned almost all of us, and of course our children too, with many highly toxic so-called vaccines- claiming that it’s for our own good. Except, I now know with 100% certainty that they are ALL, at best, completely useless. And I now know that “they” know that too.
So, is it any wonder why nearly everyone in North America is now sick and diseased? No, of course not. That is actually their publicly stated goal !!
Yes, I’ve heard the lame excuse of: “It’s the dose that makes the poison.” Obviously, that’s not true. It’s just more pharma propaganda. No, a poison is always a poison, and regardless of the dose. That’s why it’s called a poison! Taking any amount of a poison will damage, or kill, at least some of your cells. So, the dose only dictates the scope and severity of the damage caused by the poison.
Naturally, with all of that poisoning they are also now massively profiting by the additional poisoning of billions of people with their also highly toxic pharmaceutical drugs. Of course, the cycle of more poisoning ⇒ more disease ⇒ more pills ⇒ more profits goes on and on.
The net result of all of this is ~ 5 – 10 TRILLION dollars in annual world-wide revenue for the pharmaceutical industry and the medical establishment. Of course, even with that kind of money being spent on “Health Care” people are just getting sicker and sicker. Most good and normal thinking people would conclude that there’s something vastly wrong going on here. However, no, it’s all part of the plan. It’s not a coincidence, it’s their business model. We are being Pharmed.
Moving along here, there’s more to the niacin story. Isn’t there always?
So far we’ve been discussing the adverse effects of niacinamide, what about that other form of niacin called Nicotinic Acid?
Here’s a good paper on it for some background.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6714165
Nicotinic acid suppresses sebaceous lipogenesis of human sebocytes via activating hydroxycarboxylic acid receptor 2 (HCA2).
Okay, it too suppresses the lipogenesis of human sebocytes, and if I understand that paper correctly it does so much more aggressively than does niacinamide. Is that a good thing or not? I’m genuinely undecided about it. It could depend on context. What context do you ask? Well, it might depend on how much RETINOIC acid you have circulating in serum.
Here’s the thing, retinoic acid is a hydroxycarboxylic acid. So, could nicotinic acid by activating hydroxycarboxylic acid receptor 2 cause more retinoic acid to enter the cell? It sure sounds like it would to me. Of course, retinoic acid (sold as accutane et al) does have a profound drying effect on the skin and often causes the permanent “shrinking” of the sebaceous glands (albeit often accompanied with inflammation). This could explain the significant variability in the toxic response to accutane usage because it will highly depend on a person’s niacin intake / status.
Of course there are a lot of other hydroxycarboxylic acid based molecules circulating around in serum too. Some intriguing ones are vitamin C and potentially salicylic acid (aspirin), both moderately effective in treating inflammation. It’s interesting that it’s recommended to take aspirin prior to niacin supplements to reduce the severity of the “flushing” reaction. Therefore, could the real mechanism of action of vitamin C and aspirin be the blocking up of the same HCA2 receptors that are being activated by nicotinic acid? It’s at least plausible. It’s also interesting that the niacin flush mostly occurs on the head, face and chest, the same areas of the body with the highest concentrations of sebaceous glands.
On the other hand, could nicotinic acid activating the HCA2 receptor be a net benefit by effectively pulling more RA out of circulation and into the sebum of the sebocytes and thereby having them take the brunt of the toxic load off from other more important cells? That too is at least plausible. And, if so, that might be a worthwhile trade off.
I want to be super clear that I’m not at all passing judgment on nicotinic acid. I think there may be something very important here. However, since I’ve only spent a couple of hours looking into it I sure don’t want to jump to conclusions.
There’s been some very good discussions regarding niacin and nicotine (a very close molecular cousin to niacin) on the forum. Since niacin suppresses lipogenesis that helps to explain why smoking has long been known to help keep weight off. However, the long term altering, or blocking, of lipogenesis throughout the body is probably not a good idea.
Baking Soda
If nicotinic acid is beneficial in helping pull more RA out of serum at the sacrifice of the sebocytes, is there maybe an alternative or additional measure we can apply to help neutralize some of that RA before it gets into the cell?
Since retinoic acid is a carboxylic acid (COOH), and carboxylic acids react with sodium bicarbonate, it definitely has potential.
The chemical reaction is given below.
RCOOH + NaHCO3 → RCOONa + H2O + CO2↑ (brisk effervescence)
What are the chances that simple Baking Soda has been used to effectively treat chronic disease? It looks like there is indeed:
The Effects of Oral Sodium Bicarbonate on Renal Function and Cardiovascular Risk in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8665881
Conclusion
Treatment of metabolic acidosis with sodium bicarbonate may slow the decline rate of kidney function and potentially significantly improve vascular endothelial function in patients with CKD.
Here’s another:
Bicarbonate increases tumor pH and inhibits spontaneous metastases
(Mouse Model study on breast cancer)
“In contrast, NaHCO(3) therapy significantly reduced the formation of hepatic metastases following intrasplenic injection, suggesting that it did inhibit extravasation and colonization.”
They say: ” Although the mechanism of this therapy is not known with certainty”.
And another:
Drinking baking soda could be an inexpensive, safe way to combat autoimmune disease
Date:
April 25, 2018
Source:
Medical College of Georgia at Augusta UniversitySummary:
A daily dose of baking soda may help reduce the destructive inflammation of autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, scientists say. They have some of the first evidence of how the cheap, over-the-counter antacid can encourage our spleen to promote instead an anti-inflammatory environment that could be therapeutic in the face of inflammatory disease, scientists report.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180425093745.htm
Okay, so it appears that simple baking soda is helping with chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, inflammation, breast cancers, and autoimmune diseases too. All of which I’ve been attributing to excess retinoic acid. And simple baking soda is going to quite effectively neutralize RA. I find that rather intriguing, especially so when you consider it costs a few pennies per dose.
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