The Role of Niacin in Detoxification

The role of niacin in detoxification

Niacin opens blood vessels wider. Niacin, when used properly, offers benefits in terms of cholesterol reduction, as well as for detoxification. People with high cholesterol levels should see improvements once their follow the proper diet of raw foods, preferably through a good juicing program, along with the proper healing fats in their diet. However for people who don't respond, it would seem that niacin would be a far safer and less expensive alternative to the statin drugs, which have their serious complications.        

Flush Out Chemicals With A Niacin Detox

Niacin Detox was an important part of the Purification Program developed by scientists by 1979 for releasing toxins from tissues. The program was developed as a result of research into methods of cleansing the body of drugs.

Niacin is Vitamin B3 and along with B1 and B2 is needed for the Phase 1 detox. Niacin, nicotinamide and nicotinic acid are all forms of Vitamin B3 but niacinimide plays no part in detoxification.

Niacin is needed for energy production, proper digestion, manufacture of hormones, gene expression, a healthy nervous system and healthy skin. We cannot do without it. A certain amount can be made in the body from the amino acid tryptophan, found in meat, dairy and eggs, if there is adequate B1, B2 and B6 but this does not supply our total needs.

Vitamin B3 is found in all organ meats, chicken, beef, salmon, tuna, wheat germ, green leafy vegetables, beans, peas, raw mushrooms, avocados, nuts, dried figs, prunes and dates. Processed food suffers from a loss of niacin.

Sometimes the term niacin detox is used to describe a program often used to lower LDL cholesterol without drugs.  Niacin can improve cardiovascular health and it is often used by doctors of alternative medicine and naturopaths as part of a program to reverse coronary artery disease. It can lower blood fats including cholesterol and widen the small blood vessels known as capillaries improving circulation.

The niacin detox I am talking about here is different. It bursts open fat cells ( lipolysis) to release chemicals or drugs that are stored in them. Many chemicals are stored in the fatty layers of your body. Once the toxins have been released they are detoxed from the body through the skin and intestines.

You may read some articles that say there is no scientific evidence that niacin can detox stored chemicals from the cells but the truth is that they have known that it works for some years but not exactly how.

Niacin is used in the Gerson Therapy for cancer.  Dr Gerson recommended 50mg six times a day for four to six months. He stated that Niacin helps to bring back sufficient glycogen into the liver cells. It also helps in protein metabolism, acts to open small arteries and capillaries and raises electrical potential in cells

Dr George Yu described the niacin detox program that he uses in his practice at the Longevity Now Conference held earlier this year

The dose for the niacin detox protocol varies from practitioner to practitioner but the program should include exercise and far infrared ( FIR) sauna.

Here’s a regime which should be followed for a month.

Niacin

Start by taking 50 mg a day with food and gradually build up the dose to at least 500mg. You can go up to 1000 mg a day if you think you are quite toxic. People with severe toxicity problems can take up to 5000mg but should be supervised by a health practitioner.

By gradually increasing the dose you will avoid the niacin flush. Niacin dilates the capillaries, increases circulation and releases histamine from cells which will cause the skin to flush, feel hot, make your heart pound and may cause you to itch. It can last for up to an hour but is not at all harmful.

When you continue to take niacin you develop a tolerance and will no longer flush. Don’t be tempted to take non-flush niacin and this will not have the same detox effect.

Exercise

Use a mini-trampoline ( rebounder)  for this. Jump on it for at least 10 minutes and preferably 20 minutes prior to using a FIR sauna. You may have to gradually build up your exercise time if you are not used to doing any. (Chi machine works very well.)

FIR Sauna ( or other heat source)

Spend 40 minutes if you can in a sauna built of environmentally safe materials. If you don’t tolerate heat well, have multiple chemical sensitivity or chronic illness then start out with 5 minutes and gradually increase the time by 5 minutes a day.

Wipe sweat from your body while in the sauna and follow it with a cleansing shower using neutral pH organic soap to wash off toxins from the skin. Be sure to wash your hair too. Wipe down the walls of the sauna and launder your towels as soon as possible in hot water because they will be laden with toxins that you have excreted from your body through the skin.

Drink 8 oz pure water for every 15 minutes you spend in the sauna to replace lost fluids.

Additional aids to detoxification

You can take Bentonite clay, activated charcoal, chlorella, psyllium seed or zeolite to help eliminate the toxins from the intestines.

A massage or other form of body work can help to relax muscles and increase circulation encouraging further cleansing.

A good detox diet that includes fresh vegetable juices, green smoothies and a large amount of fresh, raw and lightly cooked vegetables to help replace vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that are needed for detox and repair of tissue damaged by the chemical toxins.

Long term intake of 2000mg ( 2 grams) or more a day may lead to side effects of nausea, vomiting, dizziness, flare up of gout, headache; heartburn, skin discoloration and raised liver enzymes in rare cases. These all disappear when therapy is stopped. Dr George Yu says that he never sees any permanent damage with doses up to 5000mg.

Niacin is a water-soluble B vitamin – vitamin B3 - and the common name for 2 very different compounds: "nicotinic acid" and "niacinamide". High doses of niacin (as nicotinic acid) can lower cholesterol levels (although the exact mechanism of action is still not known). The other form of niacin (nicotinamide or niacinamide) does not open blood vessels wider nor provide a cholesterol-lowering effect.

 Niacin and detoxification of fatty tissues

There are many 'detoxification programs' on the internet, but few of them acknowledge the significant fact that many toxins are stored in FATTY TISSUES. Until that fact is acknowledged, one can not develop a procedure for removing toxins from THAT location.                                             

                                                

Until the Ron Hubbard purification program was developed, no one had even yet recognized that these oil soluble toxins had such long-term effects in the body.

An important characteristic of the Hubbard detoxification program is the use of niacin. Niacin has the well-known effect of causing "vasodilation", often called the niacin flush, which is an opening of the small blood vessels, the capillaries, so that more blood flows through them. These are the blood vessels which are of most value in reaching fatty tissues. In this way the toxins which are stored in these fatty tissues can be removed, into the bloodstream, and processed out of the body. However, niacin is also made in the form of niacinamide - a form of vitamin B3 which, deliberately, is manufactured so that it will NOT cause dilation of the blood vessels - the flush so well known when using plain niacin. A detoxification program which features the use of niacinamide and also claims to improve blood circulation would be based on false science.

Some detoxification programs don't even recognize that the toxins they claim to be removing are stored in fatty tissues. The idea of removing these toxins by some procedure which does not include niacin is not practical.

The niacin "flush"

It's important to note that this niacin flush is not harmful or dangerous. Some people worry about it, but it is actually a sign of improved blood flow.

When you get the niacin "flush", it's an indication that the niacin is causing small blood vessels in your body to be expanded in size. Many of your small blood vessels, called "capillaries" are so small that blood cells can only go through them in single file. Sometimes, in fact, that small capillary passageway is clogged and blood doesn't get through at all.

While the large organs of the body all have blood supplied from large arteries, a great deal of your body, particularly the parts near the skin, get their ONLY supply of blood (therefore also of oxygen and nutrients) from these small capillaries.

The niacin causes these small capilaries to expand - so they might be able to carry 2 or 3 blood cells at the same time. This is a tremendous increase in blood flow.

You experience this as a "flushing" of the skin, simply because there is more blood close to the surface of the body. As the blood flows in these areas, the cells of the small capilaries will also be getting rid of their waste products, and often they produce 'histamine' as part of this process. That histamine is another natural substance produced by every cell in the body when a cell is under attack, or is eliminating toxins. Histamine causes an 'itchy' feeling.

  

Cardiovascular benefits of niacin

The cardiovascular benefits of niacin have been studied in several major clinical trials (1-5). The primary cardiovascular measures such as cholesterol and triglyceride levels, strokes and heart attacksare all significantly reduced with niacin therapy (sometimes used alone and sometimes used along with other drug therapy). Overall, the use of niacin (nicotinic acid, but not the other form called "niacinamide") to treat or prevent high levels of blood cholesterol and triglycerides and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease is well substantiated. In a large number of clinical trials, niacin has been shown to consistently lower total and LDL (“bad”) cholesterol - by about 20% - and triglycerides - by 10 to 25%, while increasing levels of HDL (“good”) cholesterol - by 15 to 25%.

Niacin safety

There are several precautions which one needs to implement however when one uses niacin. Niacin usually has a "flush effect" - which is not harmful - associated with it which is very similar to the hot flashes women experience during menopause. Niacin supplements are available in regular and “timed-release” forms. Timed-release versions of niacin have been made available to avoid this "flush" effect. The problem with most TIMED-RELEASED niacin is that they are associated with a high degree of liver problems.

The timed-release forms of nicotinic acid are intended for a prolonged release of niacin during its 6-8 hour transit time in the intestines, but timed-release niacin is also associated with greater toxicity and safe doses are only about half of normal-release forms of niacin.

In the high doses used for controlling cholesterol levels (anything above 100mg/day), nicotinic acid can cause skin flushing and skin itching as well as headaches, lightheadedness and low blood pressure. The niacinamide form of niacin does not cause these side effects, but it is not effective in reducing cholesterol levels, so it is seldom taken in such high doses. The slow-release versions of niacin supplements have the potential for causing liver damage (even at “lower” doses of 500mg/day) - so blood tests to monitor for liver damage are recommended and high-dose niacin supplementation should only be undertaken under the guidance of a natural physician. Anyone with liver disease, including those who consume more than 2 drinks of alcohol daily, should not take high-dose niacin.

Niacin is cheap, so its effectiveness in reducing cholesterol levels may be an inexpensive solution to reducing a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease. When monitored properly by a natural physician, niacin therapy can be almost as effective as the popular (and expensive) statin drugs for lowering cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Niacin may be the most cost-effective lipid-lowering agent currently available.

Niacin dosing is usually started at the low-end (100mg/day), with increasing doses of 250mg each week until blood lipid levels start to normalize (or side effects develop). Side effects are usually minimized by increasing the dosage slowly to the common therapeutic range of 1000-1500mg/day. Niacin doses should be divided into 2-3 separate daily doses, or no more than 500-750mg per individual dose).