A type of Vitamin B3, called nicotinamide riboside, could hold the key to unlocking the problem of chronic pain in millions of Americans.

The vitamin works by targeting inflammation, which is oftentimes the source of pain in patients with chronic pain. Inflammation is your body’s natural response to injury, but in many patients with chronic pain, inflammation develops too easily or fails to resolve in an adequate manner, leading to frequent bouts of chronic pain. Inflammation onset and its ability to resolve is believed to be tied to mitochondria function. Your mitochondria help to power your cells and ensure the cell has the ability to perform a number of essential functions, like tissue repair and inflammation control.

To see if they could improve mitochondria function and in turn inflammation control, researchers triggered an inflammatory response in the hind paws of 15 mice. They then measured the amount of oxygen consumed by mitochondria in the sensory neurons of the mice, which is a helpful indicator of mitochondria function. A week after inflammation had resolved, researchers noticed that these mitochondria were consuming significantly more oxygen, suggesting that inflammation was inhibiting their normal function.

When comparing metabolites between mice in the test group and mice who had not experienced an inflammatory reaction in their hind paws, they found that mice in the test group had lower than expected levels of nicotinamide riboside in the mitochondria of their sensory neurons. Nicotinamide riboside helps mitochondria function properly.

Vitamin B3 And Chronic Pain

With all that new information, researchers conducted another test. This time, researchers gave half the mice a high dose of nicotinamide riboside. Next, they assessed the animals’ sensitivity to pain by measuring how quickly they moved their paws away from a heat source. They found that mice who did not receive the dose of vitamin B3 pulled their foot away from the heat source twice as quickly as those who had received the dosage, suggesting that nicotinamide riboside can help combat pain sensitivity, a common denominator in patients with chronic pain.

Researchers concluded by saying that they believe that nicotinamide riboside can help to calm pain sensitivity and restore crucial mitochondria function in mice dealing with an inflammatory response. Should these results translate to humans, it could be a major breakthrough in how inflammation-driven chronic pain is treated.

But before you rush out to grab some vitamin B3 supplements, know that this was early stage research conducted on mice, and we’re a long way away from proving its viability in humans. Still, it’s research like this that gives us hope that we may soon be able to find new and effective ways to treat the complex problem of chronic pain. In the meantime, if you’d like to work with a pain management specialist who will pursue some more clinically-proven techniques for treating your chronic pain issue, reach out to Dr. Cohn and his team today at (952) 738-4580.