What are the claims about niacin and drug testing?
Many of the listings found when searching for “niacin” and “beat urine drug test” claim that niacin is an effective masking agent that can beat urine drug tests and produce a false negative test result for tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the major psychoactive ingredient of marijuana. There are also claims that niacin can be used to beat urine drug tests for cocaine. Such outrageous claims are based on the unproven concept that the effect of niacin on lipid metabolism somehow promotes the metabolism of lipid-soluble drugs such as THC and enhances elimination of the drug metabolites from the body. What does science say? Unfortunately, this claim is not based on science since there are no scientific studies that support this claim. In fact, a few published case reports have shown that high doses of niacin do not beat urine drug tests. For instance, a 14-year-old boy who took 5.5 grams of niacin (11 timed-release tablets containing 500 milligrams each) in a 36-hour period tested positive for
