- published: 20 Dec 2014
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"Niacin" redirects here. For the neo-fusion band, see Niacin (band).
Niacin (also known as vitamin B3, nicotinic acid and vitamin PP) is an organic compound with the formula C6H5NO2 and, depending on the definition used, one of the forty to eighty essential human nutrients.
Niacin is one of five vitamins (when lacking in human diet) associated with a pandemic deficiency disease: niacin deficiency (pellagra), vitamin C deficiency (scurvy), thiamin deficiency (beriberi), vitamin D deficiency (rickets), vitamin A deficiency (night blindness and other symptoms). Niacin has been used for over 50 years to increase levels of HDL in the blood and has been found to modestly decrease the risk of cardiovascular events in a number of controlled human trials.
This colorless, water-soluble solid is a derivative of pyridine, with a carboxyl group (COOH) at the 3-position. Other forms of vitamin B3 include the corresponding amide, nicotinamide ("niacinamide"), where the carboxyl group has been replaced by a carboxamide group (CONH2), as well as more complex amides and a variety of esters. Niacin and Vitamin B3 are the generic terms for both nicotinic acid and nicotinamide, which are often used interchangeably to refer to any member of this family of compounds, since they have similar biochemical activity.
Andrew Marshall Saul (born November 6, 1946) is an American millionaire businessman from Katonah, New York who serves as the Chairman of the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (FRTIB) and Vice Chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in New York City, United States. Saul has been a General Partner in the investment firm Saul Partners, L.P., since 1986.
As Chairman of the Thrift Investment Board, he is responsible for overseeing the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) which is the retirement savings account for employees of the Federal Government and soldiers of the armed services. The TSP is known to reap higher returns for their retirement than comparable private-sector workers, and is immune from many of the problems that plague mutual funds. During Saul's tenure, the TSP was grown to over $200 billion in assets by 2007, making it twice as large as when he began in 2003. He also cut operating expenses by over $20 million. The TSP is the largest defined contribution plan in the world with over 3.7 million participants and assets worth over $210 billion. The plan is expected to grow to at least $300 billion by 2010.