Word: niacin
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...vitamins are A, D, E, C (ascorbic acid), B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), Niacin, B6, folic acid, pantothenic acid, and B12. The minerals are calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, iron, iodine and copper...
Died. Dr. Conrad Arnold Elvehjem, 61, president for six years of the University of Wisconsin and biochemist whose identification of nicotinic acid as a new vitamin (now called niacin) led directly to the cure of pellagra, and who won medicine's Lasker Award in 1952; of a heart attack; in Madison...
Widely touted preparations such as triparanol and nicotinic acid (one of the B vitamins, also called niacin) do lower blood cholesterol, but they have undesirable side effects. Triparanol interferes with the liver's formation of cholesterol, forces it instead to produce a suspicious substance called desmosterol that is chemically related to cholesterol-and may even have the same damaging effect on arteries. Nicotinic acid, to be effective, must be administered in massive doses. The result: flushing, itching, nausea, headaches, changes in the blood...
When other researchers showed that nicotinic acid or niacin (one of the B vitamins) was effective against an animal disease resembling pellagra, Dr. Spies seized on the clue, soon proved that simply adding niacin to the diet would go far to cure many cases. (It has since been shown that an amino acid, tryptophane, found in protein foods, is also essential in pellagra prevention.) But Experimenter Spies was convinced that where there was one vitamin deficiency, there were likely to be others. He advocated supplements of several vitamins, was sharply criticized for "shotgun" treatment, has been fully vindicated by later...
Suddenly the chemical woods were full of vitamins: vitamin A for healthy eyes; riboflavin (B2) and nicotinic acid (niacin) to prevent pellagra; ascorbic acid (vitamin C) to prevent scurvy. Merck produced all these and many more. In no time, U.S. drugstores were selling vitamins in all doses and combinations. The Government encouraged the makers of processed foods, from which vitamins have been taken out, to enrich them by putting the vitamins back. Merck now supplies tons of vitamins a year to enrich the nation's impoverished bread, margarine and breakfast cereals...