We know that vitamins are essential nutrients in various ways for our health. Many times, in fact, we have reported the words of the experts about their advantages for our body, focusing mainly on the best known ones. We are talking, for example, of vitamin C and vitamin D, which are essential for the immune system or for the health of our bones.
More rarely, we have focused on the benefits of B vitamins and in particular vitamin B3. Yet this is what could help us keep our brains and skin healthy.
So let’s see all the qualities and functions of this too often underestimated vitamin and in which foods we can find large quantities of it.
The recommended daily dose and possible contraindications
Also called vitamin PP, B3 is a water-soluble vitamin. For B3 we can mean two compounds, which are niacin (or nicotinic acid) and nicotinamide. In both cases we are talking about substances that can be very useful to our body.
Vitamin B3, in fact, could have a positive effect on our neurological health and accelerate metabolism. Plus, it could be good for our skin and digestive system.
The daily amount recommended by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità fluctuates according to the age and condition of each person. It ranges from 5 mg for infants to 22 mg per day for those who are pregnant or breastfeeding.
Vitamin B3 deficiency could have various negative repercussions on our body, including pellagra, a disease that affects the skin, brain and intestines.
At the same time, even the excess of this vitamin (mainly due to intake through supplements) could cause serious contraindications. These include redness of the skin, increased blood pressure, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, in some cases diabetes.
However, getting the right amount of vitamin B3 is essential and here are the foods we can find it in.
Healthy brain and skin also thanks to this underrated vitamin that we find in fish and legumes
We can find vitamin B in many commonly used foods, but especially in legumes and fish. White and red meat, offal, cereal bread and yeast also have large quantities of them.
What many don’t know, however, is that latexes could also replace vitamin B3. This is because dairy products have a high rate of tryptophan, which our body can easily turn into niacin.
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Vitamin C and D are essential, but it is this other vitamin that protects the heart from cardiovascular disease