Vitamin B3

Regulating the nervous system, pre during and post pregnancy.

Vitamin B3 NRV:

The NRV recommends 16mg of Vitamin B3 per day, Her.9 contains 20mg, 126% of the NRV (this is equivalent to 320g of soybeans)

 

Major Functions:

  • Regulates the normal function of the nervous system
  • Helps to ensure that food can be properly metabolised and stored as usable energy

 

Benefits:

Vitamin B3 helps to regulate the normal function of the nervous system, which is vital for human health before, during and after pregnancy. This complex system, made up of the brain, spinal cord, and nerves, is responsible for our movement, our balance, how we process the world (via our senses) and even our ability to think.

During pregnancy, there is an additional need for vitamin B3 due to the increased energy intake of the expectant mother. With many pregnant women effectively ‘eating for two’, vitamin B2 helps to ensure that this extra food can be properly metabolised and stored as usable energy.

Preliminary research suggests that vitamin B3 supplementation also has the potential to prevent some miscarriages and birth defects.

 

Food Sources:

  • Fish
  • Nuts
  • Seeds
  • Avocados
  • Whole grains
  • Legumes

     

    References:
    • Wang, W., & Liang, B. (2012). Case report of mental disorder induced by niacin deficiency. Shanghai archives of psychiatry, 24(6), 352.
    • Kennedy, D. O. (2016). B vitamins and the brain: mechanisms, dose and efficacy—a review. Nutrients, 8(2), 68.
    • Gong, B., Pan, Y., Vempati, P., Zhao, W., Knable, L., Ho, L., ... & Pasinetti, G. M. (2013). Nicotinamide riboside restores cognition through an upregulation of proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator 1α regulated β-secretase 1 degradation and mitochondrial gene expression in Alzheimer's mouse models. Neurobiology of aging, 34(6), 1581-1588.
    • Shi, H., Enriquez, A., Rapadas, M., Martin, E.M.M.A., Wang, R., Moreau, J., Lim, C.K., Szot, J.O., Ip, E., Hughes, J.N., Sugimoto, K., Humphreys, D.T., McInerney-Leo, A.M., Leo, P.J., Maghzal, G.J., Halliday, J., Smith, J., Colley, A., Mark, P.R. and Collins, F. (2017). NAD Deficiency, Congenital Malformations, and Niacin Supplementation. New England Journal of Medicine, 377(6), pp.544–552.