Nicotinic acid, known under the index E375, is often used in the industry as a color stabilizer for food products. Substance E375 is an artificially synthesized analogue of vitamin PP, which is very important for the body. This vitamin is necessary for the successful passage of oxidative processes in the cells of a living organism. Its other names are niacin or vitamin B3.
Dietary Supplement Properties
Niacin or nicotinic acid is presented in the form of an odorless crystalline powder, with a slight taste with sourness, white in color, poorly soluble in ethyl alcohol, ethers and cold water.
It is important to note that when the water temperature rises to warm or hot, niacin acquires the ability to dissolve perfectly in it.
The melting point of the substance itself is quite high and is equal to 235,5-236,5 degrees. According to its chemical characteristics, niacin is a derivative of pyridine and a carboxyl group, which has the following formula: C6H5NO2.
Researcher Huber for the first time in 1867 obtained nicotinic acid by oxidizing nicotine with chromic acid. Already in 1873, the substance had a modern name – the scientist Weidel was able to synthesize niacin by oxidizing nicotine with nitric acid. A similar method for synthesizing the substance E375 is used today in industry.
To date, the food additive E375 is produced by the oxidative method of pyridine derivatives. Food additive E375 is synthesized during the oxidative processes of 3-methylpyridine, quinoline to the level of pyridine-2,3-dicarboxylic acid and its subsequent decarboxylation. Another method for the synthesis of niacin is the oxidation of 2-methyl-5-ethylpyridine, resulting in pyridine-2,5-dicarboxylic acid, which is further decarboxylated.
In its natural form in the natural environment, the food additive E375 is found in most plant and animal cells, for example, in beans, buckwheat, pineapples, liver and kidneys of many animals.
Impact on the human body
The use of niacin is necessary for those people who are rapidly losing weight due to the lack of a balanced diet.
Also, the antioxidant E375 must be taken by pregnant and lactating women, patients with gastrectomy, Hartnul’s disease and diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.
An insufficient amount of nicotinic acid in the human body leads to a chronic deficiency of vitamin PP, which in medicine is called the term pellagra.
Symptoms of this disease can be such signs of deterioration in well-being, such as:
- anemia;
- nausea;
- damage to the skin;
- damage to the mucous membranes;
- headache;
- constant feeling of fatigue.
Pandemic beriberi, which occurs when the human body lacks five essential vitamins (vitamin C, A, D, PP and thiamine), is very typical for entire regions and countries with a low standard of living and a large percentage of poor people.
Dietary supplement E375 takes part in the restoration of damaged DNA, helps the adrenal glands produce steroid hormones. The established daily dose of nicotinic acid for the human body is 14-16 milligrams for adults, 2 to 12 milligrams for children, and 18 milligrams for pregnant women or breastfeeding babies.
Application of the substance
Antioxidant E375 is used for food fortification. Apply nicotinic acid to enrich grain products, flour, all kinds of diet food, rice, pasta. Niacin gives such products a yellowish tint. Also, the substance can be used in canned foods to stabilize their color, in various energy drinks.
Synthetic vitamin PP has been widely used in medicine and pharmaceuticals, where it is part of various vitamin complexes.
Due to the beneficial qualities of the E375 antioxidant for human health and its status as a safe substance, nicotinic acid is allowed to be used as part of food in many states, including the EU countries.