Ep 164 – The Rogue Pharmacist: Your Beauty Guide to Vitamin B

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0:00:55.2 Maggie Staszcuk: Hello and welcome to ASCP and Rogue Pharmacist with Benjamin Knight Fuchs. In each episode we will explore how internal and external factors can impact the skin. I'm Maggie Staszcuk, ASCP's Education Program Manager and joining me is your favourite skincare formulator and pharmacist, Ben Fuchs. Hi, Ben. 

 

0:01:13.1 Benjamin Knight Fuchs: Hello, Maggie. Happy New Year to you. 

 

0:01:14.8 MS: Happy New Year. Ben, niacinamide is starting to pop up in skincare everywhere and I'm seeing this advertised as a skin friendly supplement too and I'm familiar with its effects on acne but what else should estheticians know?  

 

0:01:28.9 BF: Oh my goodness, oh my goodness. First of all you don't wanna say niacin and you don't wanna say niacinamide you wanna say Vitamin B3. 

 

0:01:36.8 MS: Oh, okay. 

 

0:01:37.4 BF: Yeah, exactly. 

 

0:01:38.2 MS: I just learned something. 

 

0:01:39.2 BF: Yeah 'cause Vitamin B3 is really the in chemistry we say the moiety, the thing, if you will, that's doing the work, but there's different molecules that can act like Vitamin B3. So it turns out that there's two major molecules that can act like vitamin B3, one is called niacin and the other's called niacinamide. They are slightly different in terms of their effects on the body. Just to backtrack real quick, arguably niacin is the most important vitamin in the body and I say that because niacin is the one vitamin that human cells will make under conditions of deficiency. Ordinarily, the definition of a vitamin is a molecule that has to be coming through the diet that the body can't make. Vitamins are said to be essential nutrients. The word essential I'm sure you know means that a substance is so important to get in your diet that you would die without it. Like air is essential, air is so important to get into your body that you die without it. So we say air is essential or oxygen's essential. Vitamins have that same quality. 

 

0:02:47.7 BF: There's certain amino acids that have that same quality, too. Without them you would die. They're said to be essential amino acids. You've heard of for example two specific fats that are so important to get in the in the diet that you would die without them and they're said to be essential fatty acids, right? So the word essential in nutrition means you have to have it in your diet, and ordinarily vitamins are essential. Vitamin C is essential, you die without getting it in the diet. Pantothenic acid is essential you die without getting in the diet etcetera. Niacin is the one vitamin that the body will make, it's so important that under deficiency states the body will make it. Now, it won't make enough of it and you'll still... If you are not getting it in the diet you'll still run into problems, but it's so critical that you have at least a minimum amount of it that the body will make it, and I'll tell you how that happens in a second, but you were gonna ask me something?  

 

0:03:36.4 MS: Yeah. I was gonna ask what does it look like when you have that deficiency?  

 

0:03:40.6 BF: I'll tell you, it's really cool what it looks like. So niacin is made from the amino acid tryptophan. Tryptophan is a really cool amino acid and it's a very important amino acid. When niacin is abundant in the body, tryptophan will get converted into serotonin. Serotonin is a molecule, you've heard of it and I'm sure everybody's heard of it these days and people think of it as an antidepressant and mood enhancer. It's not really not that. Serotonin is a coping molecule. It's a daytime molecule that supports vigilance and awareness and coping. When you have too much serotonin, you go into paranoia. If you don't have too little serotonin, you go into learned helplessness, a feeling of helplessness, too little serotonin and you can't really cope, you can't deal with stuff. Too much serotonin you get all hypervigilant. Under conditions of niacin deficiency, tryptophan will get shunted into making niacin rather than serotonin. So niacin is made from tryptophan under conditions of niacin deficiency but that will cause serotonin problems. 

 

0:04:43.6 BF: So if you're deficient in niacin you may end up deficient in serotonin. As the body shunts the tryptophan into making niacin there's no tryptophan that makes serotonin, right? So niacin is so critical the body will make it but there's a cost to the body making it, which is why you wanna keep getting it into the system, even though it can be made, you still wanna make sure you're getting enough niacin. You don't wanna get into a situation like that. Have you by the way heard of this stuff called NADH? No, it's been in the press, NADH. There's a multi-level company, I think it's multi-level who's been marketing on social media called Elysium, and NADH is now a thing NAD and NADH. So NAD is now being used intravenously for energy and it's an energy thing. And there's this company Elysium selling their NAD, NAD is niacin basically and NADH is niacin. 

 

0:05:30.6 BF: Niacin is involved in how the body makes energy, how cells make energy specifically, and that makes it important for the cells especially important for the cells that move the fastest, the heart cells, the digestive system cells the cells of the intestine and the cells of the skin. These are all... And the immune system too. These are all cells that are burning through energy very quickly and they're dependent on niacin. So niacin is an energy supporting molecule, an energy supporting nutrient. Deficiencies in niacin will cause problems with energy production especially in the cells of the heart, the skin, the brain and the immune system. So to get to your question, what are some of the signs? Well, if you go to medical school they'll tell you that the the disease that's caused by niacin deficiency is called pellagra. So pellagra is caused by niacin deficiency and they say pellagra is marked by the four Ds. The four Ds are the signs of pellagra I.e., niacin deficiency. The four Ds are diarrhea, dermatitis, dementia and death. So full-blown niacin deficiencies will cause terrible GI problems, gastrointestinal problems, skin issues and mental health problems. 

 

0:06:41.1 BF: In fact, niacin deficiency is associated with schizophrenia. Now, these are full-blown niacin deficiencies to the point where we have pellagra, but there is an issue that we don't talk about in the world of medicine and in the world of healing, although we talk about it in alternative medicine. And that's subclinical deficiency. That is a deficiency that's not severe enough to cause full-blown pellagra, but your just skin doesn't look so good. Or you have a little diarrhea or little bloating, or a little intestinal discomfort, or you're a little confused. The notion of subclinical deficiency can explain why people maybe have fuzzy thinking or maybe why their skin's red, or maybe why they feel uncomfortable after they eat certain foods. Because we know niacin is associated with all of these symptomologies, and niacin deficiency full-blown can cause Alzheimer's dementia. And you gotta wonder, because we don't really recognise this, even though we know pellagra is marked by dementia, how many people who are diagnosed with Alzheimer's are really just deficient in niacin? How many people who have eczema dermatitis are just really deficient in niacin?  

 

0:07:40.3 BF: How many people who complain about diarrhea and bloating and gas and discomfort in their intestine are just deficient in niacin? We have to recognise that just because you're getting the minimum dose, the so-called RDA, the multivitamin dose of a vitamin or a nutrient like niacin, doesn't necessarily mean you're getting enough niacin. Now, as far as the skin goes, there's some really interesting things about the skin and niacin. First of all, remember I said there's two molecules that act like vitamin B3. One is niacin and one is niacinamide. They're very similar. Niacin has a little bit more roles to play in terms of opening up blood vessels, and that makes it very important for the circulatory system. Niacin is also very important for the blood sugar system. In fact, there's a molecule in the body called the glucose tolerance factor, the GTF and the GTF is very important for helping strengthen insulin so you can process a sugar. Niacin is a key component of this glucose tolerance factor. Niacin is also very important for the fat system of the body. This is where some of the skin benefits come in because it helps you make skin fats. It's also a fat burner. It's also, believe it or not, this is really cool about niacin. 

 

0:08:44.4 BF: It's the best statin drug there is. It's not a statin drug, but it's the best cholesterol lowering substance there is. It's just as good as a statin drug. In fact, excess cholesterol is associated with problems processing sugar. And while we're always focusing on cholesterol for protecting the heart, we'd be much better off focusing on processing sugar. And niacin is critical for helping us process sugar, for diabetics for example. So niacin's got tremendously valuable roles to play for mental health, for forgetfulness, memory problems, dementia, even for social anxiety disorder, niacin, has been used to treat it. Niacin is also very important for GI problems, gastrointestinal problems, and it's also very important for skin problems. In fact, notoriously, after the Civil War in the South, they didn't eat a lot of high niacin foods. Niacin is found in high protein foods. They didn't eat a lot of high protein foods. They were subsisting on niacin deficient foods, and their skin would become very sensitive. And down South, there's a lot of sun. And so people in the south, often after the Civil War anyway, they would have problems with their skin. They would get very red. Niacin's got some really interesting benefits. Now, oh, one of the problems with niacin, I should tell you, is something called the niacin flush. 

 

0:09:58.0 BF: Have you heard of this? The niacin flush is when you take niacin and because it's a vasodilator, it opens up blood vessels, people get flushed and it can be very uncomfortable. And one of the ways you can handle the niacin flush is by using essential fatty acids, which have an anti flushing effect, anti-inflammatory effect with your niacin. Or at least taking enough essential fatty acids before you start taking niacin. Even aspirin, a baby aspirin taken daily can have anti flushing effects. But niacinamide is a form of niacin or a form of vitamin B3 that doesn't give you the blood benefits, the fat benefits, the blood benefits that niacin has but it's especially important for the skin, and I mean incredibly important for the skin. Niacinamide is, it's not as important as vitamin C or retinol or maybe even alpha hydroxy acids, but it's the next level down for treating all manner of skin issues, like you mentioned, acne for example. And that has to do with niacinamide's anti-inflammatory benefits, niacinamide's skin lightening effects, but most importantly, niacinamide benefits involve the skin barrier. 

 

0:10:58.8 BF: It helps the body produce the fats that are associated with the skin barrier, and it helps protect the cells that are associated with the skin barrier. So for people who have sensitive skin, people who have eczema, people who have any kind of barrier issues, dry skin niacinamide can be a really incredible adjunct for the skin used topically as well as internally. And this isn't really true about a lot of vitamins. Vitamin C is true about, certainly, vitamin A, retinol, but just because a vitamin is good for the skin doesn't necessarily mean it's gonna be good topically. Niacinamide is good topically. Niacinamide is just a general health tonic for the skin. It protects the skin from the sun. It has anti pigmentation and skin lightening properties. It has ceramide or fat stimulating properties. And it supports the skin barrier, and it has anti-acne benefits as well. You can think of topical niacinamide as a all around skin ingredient tonic. It helps improve all metrics of skin health used topically and next to vitamin C, which is probably... And retinol, which are the two most important skin vitamins, it's like a slight notch below the vitamin C and retinol for the skin. But it's incredibly, incredibly valuable. 

 

0:12:11.5 MS: This I guess goes for all supplements, but as we're talking about vitamin B I'm thinking of this. You see advertised with certain supplements or certain vitamins that it is not synthesised, it's coming from whole foods. 

 

0:12:25.5 BF: Oh, yeah. 

 

0:12:25.8 MS: And that that is better for you. 

 

0:12:27.5 BF: Oh, yeah. I'm glad you brought that up. That's a really good topic. Okay, so yeah, whole food vitamins and versus synthetic vitamins. First of all, everything is synthetic on some level. An apple, the vitamin C in an apple or the phytonutrients in apple don't just kind of fall from some angel that drops it on the apple tree. They're synthesised, they're made by the apple. And we make things. So everything is synthesised. However, people have this idea that somehow synthesis and production is not natural, it's not effective. And there is some, within limits, that's a kind of a good point because in whole foods, you have nutrients in a well-rounded in proportion to each other. They're well-rounded, so whole foods tend to have all of the nutrients that you need to accomplish certain goals in a balanced fashion. And it's always best to get your nutrients from whole foods. The problem is you don't get the high concentrations in whole foods. And in order to get the medicinal, therapeutic, healing benefits of certain nutrients, you need to have doses. I'm a pharmacist, in pharmacy school, we say the dose makes the medicine. So just because you have a substance in an apple or in a pear or in corn or in fish, doesn't mean you necessarily have enough of it to be therapeutic. 

 

0:13:40.8 BF: You probably have enough of it to support overall health. But for example, with niacin, you'd have to eat like 10 pounds of liver to get a therapeutic dose of niacin out of liver which is a typical of good food source of niacin. So yes, whole foods are better in terms of their balance. You get all of the nutrients balanced in a whole food. But if you want the therapeutic value of a substance, you have to have the right dose, and you're not gonna get that out of whole foods. So they have these whole food supplements and they're great, but if you look at the dose of vitamin C or of niacin, or of riboflavin or whatever nutrient you're talking about, you're seeing fractions. So I suggest that you get... Always get... Eat whole foods, make sure you're always getting whole foods. And then support that or supplement that. That's where we get the word supplement from. 

 

0:14:27.0 BF: You supplement your diet. You support your diet with additional nutrients as you need. So if you are getting your vitamin C from oranges or from kiwis or from chilli, or whatever you're getting it from, throw in 1000 mg of vitamin C. Make sure that you get enough vitamin C to have some therapeutic benefits for your immune system, for example or for your heart or whatever you're taking it for. For niacin, get your niacin from organ meats or from eggs or from wherever you're getting your niacin from. But if you want to get rid of your eczema or rash, throw in another 500 mg a day of niacin or put niacin on top of your skin. So whole foods are always the best way to go, but in order to get the therapeutic doses to really have medicinal value, you gotta have a higher dose, and that's where supplementing comes in. 

 

0:15:11.0 MS: That concludes our show for today, and we thank you for listening. But if you just can't get enough of Ben Fuchs, the ASCP Rogue Pharmacist, you can listen to his syndicated radio program at brightsideben.com. For more information on this episode, or for ways to connect with Ben Fuchs or to learn more about ASCP, check out the show notes.