AUGUSTA, GA — Can niacin supplementation improve motor symptoms in Parkinson’s disease patients?
A six-month double-blind, placebo-controlled randomized study was conducted by the Charlie Norwood VAMC and the Medical College of Georgia, both in Augusta, to determine whether low-dose daily niacin supplements would help with those symptoms. Results were published in the journal Biomedicines.1
Researchers assigned 47 PD patients to receive low-dose niacin or a placebo. At the end of the double-blind phase, all participants were dosed with open-label niacin for the next six months. Evaluation of all patients occurred at baseline, after six months, and after one year of treatment.
Defined as the primary outcome measure were Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale III (UPDRS III) scores, while secondary outcome measures included depression, sleep quality, mental flexibility and cognition, and physical fatigue.
“Niacin treatment was well-tolerated by forty-five subjects,” the authors reported. “The mean [95% CI] change in UPDRS III scores at six months of placebo was -0.05 [95% CI, -2.4 to 2.32], and niacin was -1.06 [95% CI, -3.68 to 1.57]. From six to twelve months when both groups received open-label niacin supplementation, the average UPDRS III scores significantly decreased for the placebo group by 4.58 [95% CI, -0.85 to 8.30] and the niacin group by 4.63 [95% CI, 1.42 to 7.83] points.”
That led to the conclusion, “Low-dose niacin supplementation is a well-tolerated adjunct therapy and may improve motor function in PD when taken over a longer period.”
Researchers pointed out that niacin showed promise because it is an anti-inflammatory and enhances mitochondrial function by providing NAD [nicotinamide adenine ainucleotide.]
The authors added that Parkinson’s disease often involves nonmotor symptoms, such as lack of sleep, depression and fatigue, that adversely affect quality of life. Unfortunately, they wrote, medications that reduce motor symptoms can aggravate other symptoms in PD patients, and some agents, e.g. carbidopa in Sinemet, is known to deplete niacin levels in treated PD patients. Past research has supported the concept that niacin supplements can help motor function, researchers added.
- Wakade C, Chong R, Seamon M, Purohit S, Giri B, Morgan JC. Low-Dose Niacin Supplementation Improves Motor Function in US Veterans with Parkinson’s Disease: A Single-Center, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial. Biomedicines. 2021 Dec 10;9 (12):1881. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines9121881. PMID: 34944695; PMCID: PMC8698595.
