Why Do I Turn Red All Over My Body and Get Icthy After I Drink the Biometics AM drink?

Sometimes when you first start niacin you may experience a “flush” or a reddening of the skin and an itchy feeling. Niacin is a particularly important nutrient for improving the health of the heart and for improving blood circulation.

When you get that “flush” that means that the small blood vessels in your body are being expanded in size because of the niacin. Many of your small blood vessels, called “capillaries” are so small that blood cells can go through them only in single file. Sometimes, in fact, that small passageway is clogged and blood doesn’t get through at all.

While the large organs of the body all have blood supplied from large arteries, a great deal of your body, particularly the parts near the surface (skin and surface areas) get their ONLY supply of blood (therefore also of oxygen and food!) from these small capillaries. So, if those capillaries are not carrying the blood, then those parts of the body are not getting nourishment and oxygen.

The niacin causes these small capillaries to get larger — so they might be able to carry two or three blood cells at the same time. This is a tremendous increase in blood flow.

You experience this as a reddening of the skin — simply because there is more blood close to the surface of the body. As this blood flows in these areas the cells of the small capillaries will also be getting rid of their waste products, and often they produce “histamine” as part of that process. That histamine is another natural substance produced by every cell in the body — when the cell is under attack, or is getting rid of toxins. Histamine causes an “itchy” feeling.

When you take niacin for the first time you are probably going to have that “niacin flush” and feel itchy and have red skin. Depending on when and what you ate, the sensation could last for 10 minutes or as long as an hour.

It is not harmful or dangerous. Some people worry about it, but it is actually a sign of very healthy cleansing and improved blood flow. Once you have had the niacin flush with a particular quantity of niacin, usually the next day that same dosage of niacin won’t create the same effect, and usually after a few more days you will have none of this sensation — until you increase the dosage of niacin. When you take niacin to a new, higher level (from 100 mg, for instance, to 200 mg) you can experience the reddening again. “Niacin can be very effective and safe in lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride levels and also in increasing high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. In combination with other lipid-lowering drugs (eg, bile acid sequestrants), it has reduced the incidence of cardiovascular events and stopped the progression of coronary artery lesions. It may be the most cost-effective lipid-lowering agent currently available.