Posted by Tomatheus on July 28, 2012, at 12:50:51
In reply to Niacin for Depression/Anxiety? True or False?, posted by Phillipa on July 28, 2012, at 12:09:26
Phillipa,
I tend to believe those who say that they benefit from niacin as a treatment for depression. I personally noticed a significant reduction in my depressive symptoms from taking niacinamide and another flush-free form of niacin called inositol hexanicotinate (and I took those two forms of niacin on separate occasions, not together), but for me the antidepressant benefits of niacin wouldn't last for longer than a day -- even after I kept taking the vitamin on a daily basis. I also tried taking regular niacin (nicotinic acid) and noticed less in the way of antidepressant benefits, but I also experienced the "niacin flush," which is supposedly harmless but extremely uncomfortable, at least as far as I'm concerned. There are people who experience sustained benefits from taking other medications and supplements that I only benefit from on a temporary basis, so I think it would make sense that others might get sustained antidepressant benefits from taking niacin.
Even though I believe the anecdotal reports written by individuals who say that they've responded to niacin, I don't think that niacin is an evidence-based treatment for depression. I generally consider a treatment to be evidence based if there are randomized controlled trials showing that the treatment is significantly more effective than placebo -- and the more times the findings have been replicated, the better -- and as far as I'm aware, there aren't any randomized controlled trials that show niacin to be an effective treatment for depression. It's my understanding from what I've read on the Web -- and this may or may not be accurate -- that Abram Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D., did conduct some randomized controlled trials showing that niacin was an effective treatment for schizophrenia, but that no scientist has been able to replicate Hoffer's findings. As far as depression is concerned, however, I'm not aware of any randomized controlled trials that have shown the vitamin to be an effective treatment.
So, yes, I do think that there's something to the anecdotal reports that say that niacin may have some antidepressant benefits, but I wouldn't consider niacin to be an evidence-based treatment for depression because all the evidence to support its use is anecdotal as far as I can tell.
Tomatheus
Dx: schizoaffective disorder
Treatments: Abilify, 6 supplements, & counseling
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