niacin supplement
Niacin is the B vitamin that exposes the cat's carnivory twice — a conversion pathway too weak to rely on, and a meat-rich diet that historically covered it.
Also appears on labels as: niacin · niacinamide · nicotinic acid · vitamin b3
What it is
Vitamin B3 (niacin or niacinamide), cofactor of the cell's energy chemistry. The species story: most animals synthesize some niacin from tryptophan; cats' conversion is so inefficient it's nutritionally irrelevant — a pathway evolution let atrophy because prey is niacin-rich. Obligate carnivory, written in enzyme levels.
Why it's in pet food
Meeting requirements directly — essential for dogs too, but the feline requirement is the formulation driver. Meat-heavy recipes arrive with niacin; supplementation makes the guarantee unconditional.
How Bowlmark scores it
Scores are deterministic math over the printed label — the rules below apply to every product identically, and nothing estimates or fills in a blank.
Neutral. Human-supplement niacin's flushing doses have no pet-food parallel — premix milligrams are orders below. Another quiet entry whose presence just means the completeness math was done.
For cats
One more entry in the carnivore ledger alongside taurine, preformed vitamin A, and arachidonic acid — the nutrients cats stopped making because mice made them first.
Foods that list niacin supplement
Ranked by score where scores exist. Placement here is never sold.
- Kettle Creek Farmhouse Chicken & Sweet Potato94
- Whisker & Pine Free-Run Chicken & Sweet Potato Recipe94
- Copperfield Cats Kitten Heritage Chicken & Oat Recipe93
- Meadow Farms Chicken & Oatmeal Puppy93
- Open Farm Harvest Chicken & Ancient Grains Recipe93
- Open Farm Large Breed Grain-Free RawMix93
- Open Farm Large Breed RawMix with Ancient Grains93
- Open Farm Small Breed Chicken & Turkey Recipe93
Compare foods that list niacin supplement
Same species, same form, both scored — closest scores first, so the comparison is a real one.
- Open Farm Harvest Chicken & Ancient Grains Recipe vs Open Farm Large Breed Grain-Free RawMix
- Open Farm Harvest Chicken & Ancient Grains Recipe vs Open Farm Large Breed RawMix with Ancient Grains
- Open Farm Harvest Chicken & Ancient Grains Recipe vs Open Farm Small Breed Chicken & Turkey Recipe
- Open Farm Large Breed Grain-Free RawMix vs Open Farm Large Breed RawMix with Ancient Grains
Sources
Related ingredients
Further reading
Cite this page
Bowlmark. "Niacin supplement in pet food — what it is and how it scores." https://www.bowlmark.com/ingredient/niacin-supplement
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