Dr Hoffer talks about addiction, niacin, AA, Bill W. and more.

QUOTE: 5mthf is something that might also be taken by people with mental problems. It has history of helping with depressive disorder, bipolar disorder.borderline personality disorder, and I think schizophrenia. It is the biologically active form of folate. Especially helpful for those who test positive for the MTHF genetic mutation, which is more common than most folks think. Gluten and casein-free diet plus niacinamide, P5P, and 5htmf has wonderful possibilities.

Niacinamide at about 2000 mg per day, morning noon and night, is a big part of that mix for one person. Also check out the work of: Linus Pauling, Joan Mathews Larson (2 great books, explains supplementing basics, get both)

17 years old with bipolar and sever anxiety. Did not believe this but was desperate. 3 months after taking 1000 mg flush niacin daily, I have forgotten what an anxiety attack or mood swing is. It is better than lithium, prozac and valium. Thank you Dr Hoffer.


The term vitamin B-3 was reintroduced by my friend Bill W., co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous, (Bill Wilson). We met in New York in 1960. Humphry Osmond and I introduced him to the concept of mega vitamin therapy. We described the results we had seen with our schizophrenic patients, some of whom were also alcoholic. We also told him about its many other properties. It was therapeutic for arthritis, for some cases of senility and it lowered cholesterol levels.

Bill was very curious about it and began to take niacin, 3 g daily. Within a few weeks fatigue and depression which had plagued him for years were gone. He gave it to 30 of his close friends in AA and persuaded them to try it. Within 6 months he was convinced that it would be very helpful to alcoholics. Of the thirty, 10 were free of anxiety, tension and depression in one month. Another 10 were well in two months. He decided that the chemical or medical terms for this vitamin were not appropriate. He wanted to persuade members of AA, especially the doctors in AA, that this would be a useful addition to treatment and he needed a term that could be more readily popularized. He asked me the names that had been used. I told him it was originally known as vitamin B-3. This was the term Bill wanted. In his first report to physicians in AA he called it "The Vitamin B-3 Therapy." Thousands of copies of this extraordinary pamphlet were distributed. Eventually the name came back and today even the most conservative medical journals are using the term vitamin B-3.

I have been involved in establishing two of the major uses for vitamin B-3, apart from its role in preventing and treating pellagra. These are its action in lowering high cholesterol levels [3] and in elevating high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels (HDL), and its therapeutic role in the schizophrenias and other psychiatric conditions. It has been found helpful for many other diseases or conditions. These are psychiatric disorders including children with learning and behavioral disorders, the addictions including alcoholism and drug addiction, the schizophrenias, some of the senile states. Its efficacy for a large number of both mental and physical conditions is an advantage to patients and to their doctors who use the vitamin"

Thanks for sharing.

We all probably know someone that would benefit from this info.