In a recent email, I talked about the important role of vitamin B3 for vision, specifically for preventing or even treating glaucoma.
But know that it's not just the eyes that can benefit from this vitamin.
Vitamin B3 is the invisible 'guardian angel' of the human heart. It fights cholesterol, increases hemoglobin, normalizes the metabolism of fats and proteins.
Vitamin B3 has a beneficial effect on brain function (memory, concentration, thinking). It is necessary for the brain as calcium for bones, without it the memory cannot function properly, a person loses the ability to associate, cannot sleep.
Vitamin B3 protects the body from the effects of stress hormones: it inhibits adrenal hyperglycemia.
Vitamin B3 offers many more benefits than I could list in this letter….
Anyone can ensure an adequate intake of vitamin B3 through food. Because there are many foods rich in vitamin B3, it is simple and convenient to meet your daily needs with a healthy diet. In addition, by getting enough vitamin B3 from food rather than supplements, you are getting many other important nutrients that your body needs.
A person needs at least 16 mg of vitamin B3 per day for normal health. It can be obtained from many favorite foods.
Take a look at this list of foods rich in vitamin B3. I am sure you will find something to your liking!
Puffed wheat and rice
Puffed rice and wheat contain 35 mg of vitamin B3 per 100 g of weight, which is 221% of the daily value. You can also get plenty of vitamins B1 and B2, iron and manganese from rice grains. Wheat will additionally enrich your body with selenium, phosphorus and copper.
Yellowfin tuna
Vitamin B3 is also found in fish. Much of it can be obtained from yellowfin tuna. If you eat a cooked piece of this fish weighing 100 g, the deficiency of Vitamin B3 will be completely eliminated. Yellowfin tuna contains 22 mg of this substance (138% of the norm).
Meat and offal
In offal there is much more vitamin B3 than in meat. For example, its concentration will be as follows for different products weighing 100 g:
- beef liver – 18 mg (110%);
- pork liver – 15 mg (96%);
- chicken liver – 14 mg (87%);
- turkey liver – 11 mg (69%).
If you cook lean chicken breast, 10 mg of vitamin B3 (59% of the norm) will enter your body from 100 g of cooked flesh.
Three slices of bacon will help you compensate for the lack of this micronutrient by 24%. A 100 g beef steak will give you 6 mg of the useful substance (35% of the norm).
Peanuts
Roasted on a dry pan, peanuts are also rich in vitamin B3. In 100 g of nuts there are 14 mg of this substance (90%). If you consume peanut paste in the same amount, you can get 13 mg of nicotinic acid (82% of the norm). From peanut flour, 12 mg of the vitamin is extracted from 100 g of the product (72%).
Spices and dried herbs
Spices also enrich food with vitamin B3. This essential substance is present in spices in this amount per 100 g weight:
- 12 mg in ground dried chili pepper (73%);
- 11 mg in dried coriander (67%);
- 10 mg in dried paprika and parsley (63%).
Shiitake mushrooms
Shiitake produces 14 mg of vitamin B3 from 100 g of mushrooms (88%). They also contain other B and D vitamins and many minerals.
Compared to portobello mushrooms, the latter contain no more than 6.3 mg of niacin. But this is also not bad, because this amount of micronutrient is enough to make up for a daily deficiency of 39% of the norm.
Brown rice
To make up 16% of your daily vitamin B3 deficiency, you need to eat 100 g of brown rice. They contain almost 3 mg of nicotinic acid.
Peas, corn and potatoes
Green peas are a good addition to any dish. But the main thing is that together with it, 2 mg of vitamin B3 (13%) enters the body. To fill the deficiency of vitamin B3 by 16%, you need to eat a glass of sweet corn.
If you bake a potato, then from a medium-sized vegetable you can get 15% of nicotinic acid from the daily norm.
Avocado
Fruits are not as quick to make up for vitamin B3 deficiency as meat or fish. But their importance should not be ignored either. Especially since fruits have a lot of ascorbic acid, iron and other trace elements.
What is your primary source of vitamin B3? Do you prefer plant or animal products?
In any case, sources of vitamin B3 are numerous, available and widely accessible.
Therefore, maintaining a sufficient dose of this nutrient should not be very difficult, especially since its role is very important for health.