- Niacin is added to ‘fortified’ foods as a regular B vitamin and to lower cholesterol
- But researchers say it is linked to heart attacks and heart disease
A vitamin added to cereals, bread and pasta may be linked to heart disease, a study has found.
Niacin, found in many breakfast cereals and other “fortified” or “enriched” food products, is a common B vitamin previously recommended to lower cholesterol.
But researchers found that a chemical called 4PY, which is created when the body breaks down excess niacin, is strongly associated with heart attacks, strokes and heart disease.
Dr. Stanley Hazen, from the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, said niacin could be a “previously unrecognized yet important contributor” to the development of cardiovascular disease.
“The key takeaway is not that we should eliminate our entire niacin intake, but that a discussion should occur about whether a continued mandate for fortifying flours and grains with niacin might be justified,” he said.
Niacin, a vitamin added to cereal, pasta and even bread, may be linked to heart disease, according to Ohio study
For decades, it has been a legal requirement that all white flour sold in Britain be fortified with niacin. The amount to be added – 2.4 mg per 100 g – was increased by the government in 2022.
A deficiency of niacin can cause a potentially fatal condition called pellagra. Symptoms include inflamed skin, mouth ulcers, diarrhea and even dementia.
According to the NHS, the recommended daily allowance of niacin is 16.5 mg for men and 13.2 mg for women.
However, in their American study, published in Nature Medicine, researchers found that one in four people consumed too much and had high levels of 4PY in their blood.
Dr. Hazen said, ‘The effects of niacin have always been somewhat paradoxical. Despite lowering cholesterol levels, the clinical benefits have always been less than expected.
‘This led to the idea that too much niacin caused unclear side effects that partially offset the benefits of cholesterol lowering.
‘We believe that our findings help explain this paradox. This illustrates why examining residual cardiovascular risk is so crucial; we learn so much more than what we set out to discover.”
Many breakfast cereals are ‘enriched’ with niacin. Cornflakes contain 13mg per 100g – meaning a 50g bowl contains exactly half your daily allowance.
Many popular daily multivitamins contain about 50 mg – more than 300 percent of a man’s RDA.