Description
Niacinamide 500mg a capsule, 90 servings, about 20 cents each, with nothing else in it. Niacinamide is the amide form of vitamin B3, also written nicotinamide, and the practical difference from nicotinic acid is the flush. A niacinamide 500mg capsule does not produce the hot, red, prickling skin reaction that nicotinic acid causes in most people at a fraction of this amount.
What is in the capsule
| Active | niacinamide 500 mg per capsule |
|---|---|
| Also called | nicotinamide, the amide form of B3 |
| Not | nicotinic acid, which is the flushing form |
| Recommended intake | 14 to 16 mg NE a day for adults |
| Servings | 90, one capsule each, about 20 cents |
| Other ingredients | none beyond the capsule shell |
| Testing | identity and assay every lot |
Why a niacinamide 500mg capsule does not flush
The flush from nicotinic acid is a prostaglandin mediated dilation of small blood vessels in the skin, and it begins in many people at 50 mg or less. The amide form does not trigger that mechanism, which is why it is the version used where a large amount is wanted without the reaction.
That is pharmacology rather than a claim about this product. Both forms count as vitamin B3 and both appear on labels as niacin, which is why the vitamins page names the compound in full on every listing instead of printing a letter and a number.
Reading 500mg against the recommended intake
The adult recommendation is 14 to 16 mg of niacin equivalents a day, so one capsule is roughly thirty times it. The tolerable upper intake level for supplemental niacin is 35 mg a day, set on the basis of the flushing reaction from nicotinic acid rather than on toxicity from the amide.
That distinction matters and it is poorly understood. A niacinamide 500mg product sits far above the upper limit figure as published, while the limit itself was derived from a different compound’s side effect. The NIH niacin fact sheet explains the reasoning, and reading it before buying any high dose B3 is worth ten minutes.
The liver note, printed rather than buried
Case reports and clinical literature describe hepatotoxicity with sustained gram scale intakes of both forms, which is above a niacinamide 500mg serving. Reports involve both forms of B3, more commonly with slow release nicotinic acid. Five hundred milligrams is below that range, and anyone taking several B3 containing products at once should add up the total rather than assume.
What the research administered
Published trials using this compound have run from 250 mg to 1,500 mg a day depending on the field, with dermatological work often at 500 mg twice daily and measuring lesion counts and photographic assessment, and other studies measuring blood nicotinamide and NAD concentrations. Those are the doses administered and the measurements taken in that literature, and they are not claims about this bottle.
Why niacinamide 500mg is cheap and riboside is not
Niacinamide is produced industrially at enormous scale as a food fortificant and an animal feed additive, so the raw material costs very little. A niacinamide 500mg bottle at 20 cents a serving is mostly packaging, testing and distribution rather than compound.
That is worth knowing because price is sometimes read as a proxy for quality in this aisle. It is not. The assay on the certificate is the only thing that speaks to quality, and it costs the same to run on a cheap ingredient as on an expensive one.
Why single ingredient rather than a B complex
Because 500 mg of anything does not belong in a complex. A methylated B complex carries 25 to 50 mg of B3 alongside the other seven, which is a nutritional amount. This is a single nutrient at a multiple of that, bought for a specific reason, and mixing the two purposes produces a product that serves neither.
Niacinamide and nicotinamide riboside
They are not the same compound. Riboside is a nucleoside form sold at a far higher price per milligram, and it is listed separately on this site with its own figures. Comparing the two on price per milligram is the comparison worth making, and both panels carry the numbers to do it.
Testing
Every lot of niacinamide 500mg is identity tested and assayed by a laboratory with no ownership tie to us, with heavy metals, residual solvents and microbials on the same report. Under strength lots are withdrawn and the failing certificate stays published, which is explained in why we publish the batch that failed.
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