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Comment by e9 | Hacker News Reader

Just use high quality niacin/nicotinic acid/vitamin-b3. "niacin supplementation increases cellular nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) levels"

reference: https://examine.com/supplements/vitamin-b3/

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Yes and be prepared for that 'niacin flush' if you take a 500mg capsule the first time. Phew. I had to lie down for half an hour.

https://niacinreviews.com/niacin-max-flush/

Beware the niacin flush. Once I took 500mg, after having already been accustomed to the flush. It hit hard that day though. 15 minutes after taking the pill, while driving, my vision started to narrow and go black. It felt like being chocked out. I was rapidly losing consciousness, but was able to safely pull over to the side of the road. Before completely passing out I was able to vomit up what was left of the pill. I was able to return home, and sleep for the rest of the day. This was with a single 500mg pill, after already being used to the flush.

FWIW, and not sure if this only helps the itching part of the side effect....

https://www.leaf.tv/articles/how-to-relieve-an-itch-from-nia...

Drink plenty of water. According to Dr. William Davis, a cardiologist from Wisconsin, ingest 2 8-oz. glasses of water immediately after the itching sensation begins. According to Dr. Davis, this quick task relieves the flush and itching symptoms in more than 90 percent of instances.

Take a 325mg table of uncoated aspirin; according to Dr. Davis, this can also alleviate the itching and burning.

I had no idea about this before taking it. I popped some before going to the store. Thought I was about to crap myself then started getting super itchy. Had to rush home and by then my entire body was lobster red lol

Definitely want to use the non flushing version.

Are you sure you get a similar effect? A quick search suggests niacin behaves quite differently.

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-nicotin...

"Among "salvageable precursors" (i.e., Na, Nam, NR), a lot of focus is on NR these days because apparently it activates the "anti-aging" sirtuin genes at high concentrations too compared to Na and Nam which only activate those "longevity" genes only at small concentrations and deactivate them at higher concentrations."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18429699

"Because current data suggest that nicotinamide riboside may be the only vitamin precursor that supports neuronal NAD+ synthesis"

I've been taking Niagen for a couple of months, and I can say that for me it feels much better than niacin or niacinamide. I don't know why (perhaps I have some niacin metabolism problem, or the niacin interferes with some other impaired process such as the methylation cycle).

Also there seems to be some synergy between Niagen and resveratrol and pterostilbene that I can clearly notice. Foods that work well with Niagen are raisin(-bread) and olive oil. Of course, ymmv.

That's interesting. Glad that you are experimenting! Everyone is so different that experimenting is the only way to find out what works and what doesn't for anyone :). Just curious, what other supplements did you find working out for you?

When a doctor's visit leads to a dead end, then yes, I believe experimenting is probably the only option left.

I've taken a lot of supplements in the past, but at some point I found out that stomach acid and digestion were the problem.

I have read pieces on NR that claim NR is better at "activating" sirtuin production compared with niacin. Is this a load of baloney? Or is NR really different in its effect?

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