Definition of "niacin" []

• A white crystalline acid, C5H4NCOOH, that is a component of the vitamin B complex found in meat, wheat germ, dairy products, and yeast and is used to treat and prevent pellagra. Also called nicotinic acid. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "However, by some sort of luck, this process also makes the vitamin niacin available from the grain, thus preventing pellagra (niacin deficency), a rather debilitating disease."
• "They did not know that as a result the corn meal they produced did not release the chemical niacin, a chemical nutrient essential to the body and especially to the nervous system (we call niacin vitamin B3)."
• "Until recently, only exercise and mega-doses of the vitamin niacin have been shown to boost HDL levels."