# Niacin v. Nicotine. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 27, 2010, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niacin-v-nicotine/526692 "2010-01-27T22:53:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jim\_B](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jim_b/32/4338_2.png) [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niacin-v-nicotine/526692/1 "2010-01-27T22:53:40Z")
As many of you may know, I enjoy flipping thru my dictionary, finding random words here and there. And not too long ago, I came across something interesting. It seems the B-vitamin Niacin is actually short for “_ **NI** (COTINIC) **AC** (ID) + **IN** _”. Nicotinic acid in other words. I could be wrong, but to me that sounds like **Nicotine**! Is that true? Is the bane of the tobacco companies, that allegedly most addictive substance, related to a necessary nutrient? Frankly I wouldn’t be too surprised if it is. You see I am a consummate skeptic. I don’t take anyone’s word for anything. So it wouldn’t surprise be it is actually related to something good for you. Well? And thank you in advance to all who reply:) ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niacin-v-nicotine/526692/2 "2010-01-27T23:01:33Z")
Nope. They are two different substances. Take a look at the pictures if you don’t believe me: [Nicotine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine) [Niacin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niacin) which then is used in the production of NADH and quite essential to mammals and other living creatures. Also other fun stuff for you to look at:[Nicotinic Acetylcholine receptors](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotinic_acetylcholine_receptor) found in your body. They bind to muscarine, and acetylcholine… but also were first discovered by the fact that Nicotine (the first substance) binds to them and stimulates them. So there’s another thing in the body that’s got a Nicotine name. The thing giving these substances a similar sounding name? The fact that they are compounds containing Nitrogen. But they are most def. two different structures! ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niacin-v-nicotine/526692/3 "2010-01-28T00:05:03Z")
As the quoted Wikipedia pages indicate, niacin was first created by chemically treating nicotine, whcih is why it was first called nicotinic acid. But when it was later discovered to be an important nutrient, whereas nicotine is a poison, it was decided to make the names more distinguishable. Incidentally, I first learned this by reading Isaac Asimov’s \*The World of Nitrogen \*back in 6th grade. ---
**Author:** ![AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niacin-v-nicotine/526692/4 "2010-01-28T04:28:08Z")
> [@](#): > > niacin was first created by chemically treating nicotine You know how schizeophernics have a very high smoking rate? I wonder if there’s something in nicotene that provides a medicenal effect. ---
**Author:** ![G.Pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@G.Pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G.Pie)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niacin-v-nicotine/526692/5 "2010-01-28T05:06:32Z")
> [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](#): > > You know how schizeophernics have a very high smoking rate? I wonder if there’s something in nicotene that provides a medicenal effect. I think it’s more likely that the nicotine helps them concentrate through the medication-induced haze that most of them live in. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niacin-v-nicotine/526692/6 "2010-01-28T09:32:42Z")
> [@AboutAsWeirdAsYouCanGet](#): > > You know how schizeophernics have a very high smoking rate? I wonder if there’s something in nicotene that provides a medicenal effect. Well, nicotine is a psychoactive drug, with effects that people apparently find pleasant. It is not impossible that it might have some palliative effect on the symptoms of schizophrenia. But even if that is so, it does not follow that it would be a useful medical treatment, and it is not at all likely that its effects would have anything to do with its chemical relationship to niacin. Nicotine is psychoactive because of the way it reacts with receptor molecules on the outer surface of certain nerve cells in the brain, and schizophrenia probably has something to do with something being messed up with brain receptor molecules too, or with the neurotransmitter chemicals that are _supposed_ to interact with them. Niacin, on the other hand, has no _special_ role in the brain, but is involved in the basic internal metabolism of every cell in the body. ---
**Author:** ![Random\_Design](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58f4c7/32.png) [@Random\_Design](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Random_Design)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niacin-v-nicotine/526692/7 "2010-01-28T10:12:00Z")
Nicotine is named after the tobacco plant (Nicotiana tabacum) which in turn is named after Jean Nicot de Villemain. > **[Nicotine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine)** > > Bottom left: Skeleton representation of a nicotine molecule > Nicotine is a naturally produced alkaloid in the nightshade family of plants (most predominantly in tobacco and Duboisia hopwoodii) and is widely used recreationally as a stimulant and anxiolytic. As a pharmaceutical drug, it is used for smoking cessation to relieve withdrawal symptoms. Nicotine acts as a receptor agonist at most nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), except at two nicotinic receptor subunits (nAChRα9 and nAChRα1... ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2010, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niacin-v-nicotine/526692/8 "2010-01-28T11:58:06Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > As many of you may know, I enjoy flipping thru my dictionary, finding random words here and there. And not too long ago, I came across something interesting. It seems the B-vitamin Niacin is actually short for “_ **NI** (COTINIC) **AC** (ID) + **IN** _”. Nicotinic acid in other words. I could be wrong, but to me that sounds like **Nicotine**! > > Is that true? Is the bane of the tobacco companies, that allegedly most addictive substance, related to a necessary nutrient? Frankly I wouldn’t be too surprised if it is. You see I am a consummate skeptic. I don’t take anyone’s word for anything. So it wouldn’t surprise be it is actually related to something good for you. > > Well? > > And thank you in advance to all who reply:) You seem to be suggesting some sort of conspiracy! In fact, it’s there to see in any dictionary, as you yourself discovered. Nothing sinister about it at all. Nicotinic acid was first synthesised by oxidation of nicotine, hence the name. And yes, tobacco does contain small amounts of niacin. I wouldn’t recommend relying on it for your B vitamin needs, however 😉 Just because nicotine is chemically “related to something good for you” doesn’t make nicotine good for you as well. Chloride ions are essential in your body but that doesn’t make chlorine gas good for you - and they’re much more similar (just one electron away!) than nicotine and niacin (which differ by about half the molecule). ---
**Author:** ![ToeJam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dfb087/32.png) [@ToeJam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToeJam)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2010, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niacin-v-nicotine/526692/9 "2010-01-29T00:04:12Z")
> [@Random\_Design](#): > > Nicotine is named after the tobacco plant (Nicotiana tabacum) which in turn is named after Jean Nicot de Villemain. > > [Nicotine - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotine) Ignorance fought. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![unityemissions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@unityemissions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unityemissions)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niacin-v-nicotine/526692/10 "2010-10-08T17:11:31Z")
Haha. You guys stumbled onto something important and didn’t even realize it. Kudos to the guy who noticed that schizophrenics have very high incidences of being heavy smokers. When nicotine is oxidized, it becomes nicotinic acid, aka NIACIN. About 90% of schizophrenics who take high doses of niacin and ascorbic acid recover, if they haven’t been ill for over two years. The schizo’s are attempting to self treat by chain smoking… [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RLNxWi3E6Cs) [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgUvAVQbxDY) I was starting to become psychotic a few years back and started taking 3 grams of inositol hexanicotinate and ascorbic acid with flavinoids and got well… 🆒 …oh yeah, and benzo’s were first synthesized from studying the nicotinic acid molecule. They all hit the same receptor in the brain… ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niacin-v-nicotine/526692/11 "2010-10-08T21:10:39Z")
> [@Jim\_B](#): > > Is that true? Is the bane of the tobacco companies, that allegedly most addictive substance, related to a necessary nutrient? Frankly I wouldn’t be too surprised if it is. You see I am a consummate skeptic. I don’t take anyone’s word for anything. So it wouldn’t surprise be it is actually related to something good for you. Looks like other parts of the question have been well answered, but I wanted to comment on this. Just because two chemicals are “related” or similar in some way doesn’t say anything about their effect. Wood, lobster shells and potato starch are all glucose chains, identical except for the position of the bond between glucose molecules. Graphite and diamonds are chemically identical (again, just the position of the bonds are different). Cholesterol, testosterone and estrogen are all closely related. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/niacin-v-nicotine/526692/12 "2010-10-09T17:31:47Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > Graphite and diamonds are chemically identical (again, just the position of the bonds are different). I’m pretty sure that the chemistry of a substance depends on the configuration of its bonds. It’s more accurate to say that the configuration of protons into nuclei are the same, but the pattern of how the electrons are shared between nuclei is different. Sorry to be pedantic.