"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 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 to increase levels of HDL cholesterol in the blood and has been found to modestly decrease the risk of cardiovascular events in a number of controlled human trials. However, in a recent trial AIM-HIGH, a slow-release form of niacin was found to have no effect on cardiovascular event and stroke risk in a group of patients with LDL levels already well-controlled by a statin drug, and the trial was halted prematurely on evidence that niacin addition actually increased stroke risk in this group.[2] The role of niacin in treating cardiovascular risk remains under debate."