Vitamin B3: Benefits, Food Sources, Deficiency, and What Niacinamide Actually Does for Skin
Vitamin B3 is one of those nutrients that earns attention from two very different directions at once: nutritionists recommend it for metabolic health, and dermatologists recommend it — in its niacinamide form — for skin. That dual relevance is unusual enough to be worth exploring carefully, because the supplement and skincare industries have each developed their own vocabulary around vitamin B3 in ways that can make the whole topic feel more complicated than it is. This article covers what vitamin B3 actually is, what its two main forms do differently, which health benefits are well-supported by evidence, what food sources provide it, what deficiency looks like, and why niacinamide has become one of the most evidence-backed ingredients in modern skincare. What Vitamin B3 Is — and Why It Has Two Names Vitamin B3 is a water-soluble B vitamin that the body converts into two essential coenzymes: NAD (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide) and NADP (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosp...