Vitamin B3

Vitamin B3 is a water-soluble vitamin comprising nicotinic acid and nicotinamide. The body uses these forms to make the coenzymes NAD and NADP.

Nicotinic acid: Nicotinic acid, also called niacin, is one form of vitamin B3 and a precursor to NAD. It is one of the two forms included in vitamin B3.
Niacin: Niacin is a collective name for nicotinic acid and nicotinamide, two forms of vitamin B3. The name is often used interchangeably with vitamin B3.
Pellagra: Pellagra is a deficiency disease caused by inadequate niacin or tryptophan, classically producing dermatitis, diarrhea, and dementia. Severe vitamin B3 deficiency causes this characteristic disease.
Joseph Goldberger: Joseph Goldberger was a physician who demonstrated that pellagra was associated with diet rather than infection. His investigations helped establish pellagra as a nutritional disease.
Nicotinamide: Nicotinamide, also called niacinamide, is a form of vitamin B3 and a precursor to NAD. It is the second principal form of vitamin B3.
Essential nutrient: An essential nutrient is a substance an organism must obtain from its environment because it cannot make enough itself. Humans require dietary vitamin B3 or its precursor tryptophan to meet needs.
Niacin deficiency: Niacin deficiency is inadequate vitamin B3 availability for normal NAD and NADP production. It describes the nutritional shortfall that can progress to pellagra.
Conrad Elvehjem: Conrad Elvehjem was a biochemist who identified nicotinic acid as the factor that cured black tongue in dogs. His work connected nicotinic acid to the deficiency disease related to pellagra.
Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide: NAD is a coenzyme that carries electrons in cellular redox reactions and supports other enzyme processes. Vitamin B3 supplies building blocks for this central coenzyme.
Tryptophan: Tryptophan is an essential amino acid that humans can convert into NAD through several metabolic steps. Its conversion provides an additional route to make NAD beyond dietary B3.

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