Infuse Infuse 2 December 2017 | Page 26

That’s what exists in multi-vitamins. We
don’t know if too much niacin would be
dangerous to the developing baby, and
it might be.
There are also other things that play into
how NAD is made, in conditions like
diabetes and high body mass index and
chronic inflammation and inflammatory
bowel disease. There is research that
shows that NAD levels are lower in
those circumstances.
Dietitians will be familiar with folic
acid’s role in preventing birth defects.
We’re looking towards designing and
raising the funds to do a study like the
[landmark] folic acid research showing
that folic acid supplements reduce the
incidence of neural tube birth defects.
The trick is, identifying women in the
population who, despite a good diet,
are actually low in NAD for any number
of reasons.
You’ve been challenged with the
argument that Australian women
aren’t considered to be niacin deficit –
everyone has a good diet.
As a researcher, you must be
exceptionally happy with your findings?
It’s always exciting to find the cause of a
disease. It’s very rare, at the same time,
to identify a preventative. That’s what
has really been very exciting. Everyone’s
imagination has been captured by
how simple the preventative is. If we
can show that prevention occurs in
humans and not just mice and that the
finding really does apply to a broader
population, it will be wonderful.
This is true. Women are not considered
to be folate deficient,
either. You can have a perfectly healthy
diet that provides you with more than
enough niacin to keep you healthy, but
you might not be able to absorb the
niacin or the tryptophan (also an NAD
precursor) as efficiently as some. That
could be due to differences in genetic
factors or nutrient absorption between
the person who can make sufficient
NAD from their diet and those
who can’t.
© Dietitian Connection
If we can show the importance of niacin
in preventing some cases of recurrent
miscarriages and birth defects, then
that’s readily available for people, even
in developing countries – and it’s
cheap. There’s a great opportunity to
help people.
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Infuse | December 2017