Fighting Colds with Vitamin C and Niacin

I have read many documents advocating fighting colds with 5 to 100 gm/day doses of extra vitamin. The extra vitamin C is taken in divided doses every hour or two until the onset of the side effect of intestinal discomfort. Many in my family followed this advice for many years, and we generally believe that the practice reduces the duration and severity of colds. Despite this practice, colds continued to cause substantial suffering, and we were interested in better results.

Niacin is one of two common forms of vitamin B3. Niacin has been proven in double blind, placebo control clinical trials to fight heart disease when taken at doses ranging between 1000 and 4000 mg/day (the RDA is near 20 mg/day). Niacin lowers LDL cholesterol and raises HDL cholesterol. It is the most effective treatment known for these conditions.

Niacin can be difficult to take. It can have very unpleasant side effects. Niacin causes flushing. The skin turns red and feels like a sunburn for a few minutes. On average, the severity of the flush increases with increasing dose, and can be extremely painful. Flushing can be controlled with time-release niacin. The next most common side effect is more serious. It is nausea. The nausea ranges from mild, lasting for an hour or so to so severe that it lasts a whole day and can be accompanied by vomiting. Niacin has been associated with many other side effects. In this respect, niacin is much more difficult to use than vitamin C. In general, vitamin C’s intestinal side effects are some combination of completely avoidable or readily tolerable.

My family has found niacin’s side effects to be tolerable, but not completely avoidable. We take it because we have found the combination of vitamin C and niacin to obviously reduce the duration and severity of colds. With the exception of the most severe colds, the combination of vitamin C and niacin has kept the family feeling 100%, and maybe even better. When fighting a cold, we have found the combination of vitamin C and niacin to have a stimulant effect. Under the influence, in addition to fighting off the cold, we rush about our business with extra energy. We use single daily doses of niacin between 100 and 250 mg. We ordinarily use it only twice at most because by the third day the cold is over. I take ordinary niacin and typically flush because the flush doesn’t bother me. The rest of my family hate flushing and take time release niacin. When the cold is gone we return to the normal daily routine of vitamin C and a multivitamin.

I have read the vitamin literature extensively. I have found almost nothing advocate the combination of extra vitamin C and extra niacin to fight off colds. If anyone can point me to references, I’m interested.

Niacin is a vitamin with tremendous potential. All medical professionals accept the usefulness of niacin at doses far above the 20 mg RDA. All cardiologists are now familiar with the challenges of using niacin and are a skilled resource to help the population that is suffering from chronic colds. Niacin side effects are being successfully managed. The benefits clearly far outweigh the dangers.

Niacin is known to be essential to the health of every cellular system in the body. Hundreds of specific metabolic pathways requiring niacin have been identified. Since high doses of niacin are effective for heart disease, proposal that high doses might be effective for other conditions merit a fair hearing.

So, if colds cause you enough trouble to make taking extra vitamin C worthwhile, consider adding in some extra niacin. There’s nothing to lose. If it works, come on back to the board and let others know. Let us know about any side effects too.