Does niacin raise your body temperature?

If you’re familiar with niacin, you might have heard about its effects on body temperature. Some people claim that taking niacin can lead to a rise in body heat – but is there any truth behind this idea? Let’s dive into the science (brace yourself for some pretty cool words) and find out.

What Is Niacin?

Niacin is also known as Vitamin B3, which is an essential nutrient that your body needs to stay healthy. It helps keep your skin, brain, and digestive system functioning optimally by supporting various chemical reactions within cells.(Hint: not rocket science)

How Does Niacin Affect The Body?

One of the primary ways that niacin affects the body is by playing a role in metabolic processes. Essentially, it helps turn food into fuel so that your cells can use it for energy production(cue the “wow” face emoji).

However, there are other effects beyond this simple function. For example:

  • Niacin can help reduce inflammation throughout the body.
  • It may raise HDL (“good”) cholesterol levels while lowering LDL (“bad”) cholesterol levels.
  • And yes, some studies suggest that taking high doses of niacin may result in an increase in body temperature(but hold on tight because I will debunk this myth later on).

The reason why we are particularly interested in exploring whether or not niacin increases our core tempertature revolves around ‘fever therapy’. Fever therapy was once used (or rather – abused) as a treatment option to fight illnesses ranging from cancer to malaria up until 50 years ago! Although medically sound reasoning fueled doctors at long-gone institutions such as American clinics like “Battle Creek Sanitarium”, does fever therapy still hold any weight todayt?

Before we answer these questions though let’s cover more basics;

Can You Take Too Much Niacin?

Niacin is typically absorbed through food, but sometimes people might take supplements as well. However, it’s important to be cautious about how much you’re consuming because taking too much niacin could lead to unpleasant side effects.

In general, overdosing on niacin can result in:

  • Flushing (reddening of the skin and a warm sensation)
  • Stomach issues (including nausea and diarrhea)
  • Liver damage
  • High blood sugar levels

Therefore, one should always check with their doctor before starting any new supplement regimen – this cannot be stressed enough!

Now back to fever therapy…

What Is Fever Therapy?

As mentioned earlier, fever therapy was once practiced as an alternative treatment method for serious illnesses like cancer(who knew that we didn’t need radiation!). The idea behind its advocacy was infused with the notion that intentionally increasing your core body tempertature may help fight off infections or disease.

By inducing a high temperature artificially, doctors thought they could trigger beneficial responses from the immune system such asthe production of white blood cells which would then engulf foreign invaders such as cancerous tumours or infected cells(call them “organic vacuums”, if you will).

While there were some notable successes using this approach in treating certain diseases over the years,it has also been linked with risks ranging from dehydration and potential electrolyte imbalances all the way up to permanent neurological damage.Surely making ‘fever’ more hotly debated than ever!

Either way… Let’s get into why Niacin played into these treatments…

How Does Niacin Tie Into Fever Therapy?

As previously stated NIACIN is ableto cause mild-to-moderate flushing—the temporary reddening of your face and upper body along with feelings warmth due vasodilation(surface swelling). This happens because ingested forms of Vitamin B3 affect histamine receptors found in our circulation(FYI we all know histamine – this is what created our seasonal allergies!)(You don’t mess with histamines, trust me).

A 2015 study published in the Journal of Translational Medicine suggested that high doses (greater than 500 mg daily) niacin may have some utility indeliberately inducing mild fever due to peripheral vasodilation- which increases blood flow and heat release. (Are you feeling hot right now?) While other studies suggest niacin supplementation was NOT helpful as part of a cancer treatment protocol Or indicating its role as hypothermia countermeasure (helpful for mountaineering or scuba divers experiencing cold temperatures).

So Does Niacin Really Raise Your Body Temperature?

The answer is… it depends! While there are instances where taking high doses of niacin might cause your body temperature to rise slightly, this effect isn’t always present. Most people report only mild flushing symptoms such as reddening of their face and arms occurring within few minutes after ingesting vitamin B3 supplements (perhaps caused by upregulated skin flush reflex arcs in response to chemical contact) .

Ultimately studying periperhal vasodilation & associated thermogenesis along cold exposure together has been an interesting topic for researchers looking at anti-frost bite strategies or controlling fevers  among critically ill patients(NIACIN is still being studied for a wide range variety medical purposes so stay tuned), but I must tell you – It does not live up to use solely as “fever therapy”.

Conclusion:

In summary, while there can be intermittent inconsequential changes in core temperature when using NIACIN supplements taken at seriously high dosages,few minutes aside from facial blushing ,this clearly doesn’t constitute an effective method offever reduction northerapeutic intervention.Its highlighted usefulness comes mainly through augmenting specific physiological processes supportiveof general health;suchas DNA synthesis pathways,inflammation control,and blood lipid regulation.

So unless you’re looking to warm yourself up for a couple of minutes -there are other, more safe and reliable ways of maintaining good health through balanced diets, medication prescribed by your doctor when needed as opposed to only supplements. So next time someone asks if NIACIN raises body temperature the answer remains in short: – not particularly.

SIGH! That felt like a fridge breeze while writing this!

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