Today's nutrient is: Vitamin B3 (Niacin) :)

Vitamin B3 is an important vitamin that is a key vitamin for helping our body utilize energy from food sources and total body function (nervous system, digestive system, etc).

Vitamin B3 is responsible for following bodily processes:

1. Energy Utilization: Vitamin B3 is an important precursor to the body's molecule of NADH. NADH is an important molecule in our body that helps our cells get energy from our food. Without sufficient NADH levels, our body can't sufficiently extract energy from the foods we eat.

2. Our body also uses vitamin B3 to repair our DNA damage and also help our cells renew themselves. Without good levels of Vitamin B3 our cells can't efficiently fix themselves and can lead to conditions such as cancer and metabolic disorders.

3. Nervous system, vitamin B3 plays a precursor to a molecule used to activate neurons. This plays important process in mental functioning and sufficient levels of vitamin B3 can help our mental health and cognitive functioning.

4. Alongside other Vitamin B's as I will go through later, Vitamin B3 is a really important vitamin needed by pregnant people as the developing fetus requires Vitamin B for very important developmental stages. Sufficient Vitamin b3 can be one of many steps to have a healthy pregnancy!

-- Fun Fact: Vitamin B3 has been enriched in flour in parts of the world by government and food agencies to help the population have easy supplementation.

Good sources of Vitamin B!

- Meat (Beef, Chicken, Fish, Pork, etc.)

- Animal related products (Eggs, Cheese, Milk)

- Enriched Flours

- Dark Leafy Greens (Spinach, Beans, Broccoli, the classics :))