Vitamin B
3
(niacin) is essential for all living cells and plays a
central role in energy metabolism and oxidative phosphorylation. Vitamin
B
3
, a water-soluble vitamin, is present in the form of nicotinic
acid and nicotinamide, a monocarboxylic acid derivative of pyridine. While
nicotinic acid is commonly effective in lowering cholesterol levels, unlike
nicotinic acid, nicotinamide is ineffective on lipids. Presence rates of
nicotinic acid and nicotinamide, which are the available forms of vitamin
B
3
, are different for each food. However, the studies in the
literature are generally based on the analysis of total amount of vitamin
B
3
in foods and the studies determining the profile of vitamin
B
3
in foods are limited. The aim of the study was to determine
the vitamin B
3
profiles of 10 kinds of animal based food and 10
different plant based food samples. In this study, 10 kinds of animal based food
samples consisting of veal (veal steak fillet), chicken (breast), turkey meat
(thigh), goat meat (leg, belly), lamb (leg, back, arm), mutton (belly), bovine
meat (loin) and 10 different plant based food samples namely; barley, rye, wheat
(bread), wheat (durum), oat, rice, dried pea, green lentil, red lentil and
chickpea were studied by high performance liquid chromatography using
post-column derivatization system. The presence rates of nicotinic acid and
nicotinamide were determined in the meat samples as 30% and 70%
and as 87% and 13% in the cereal and legume samples, respectively.
Nicotinic acid levels were found in low amounts in the meat samples. The amounts
of nicotinic acid in the cereal and legume samples were significantly higher
than the meat samples. Consequently, the plant based foods such as cereals and
legumes, with a ratio of 87% nicotinic acid presence, standout as the
best source of nicotinic acid and encouraging regular intake of those cereals
and legumes containing rich nicotinic acid would remove nicotinic acid
deficiency in human.
