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Side EffectsDoes MemoHoney Have Side Effects? The flush, the tingle and the pathway
Two visible effects, one stomach effect and one interaction worth a conversation.
Niacin causes a flush. Beta-alanine causes a tingle. Arginine and citrulline can loosen the stomach at gram doses. And three of the four compounds widen blood vessels, which is why anybody on a nitrate, a blood-pressure medicine or a drug for erectile dysfunction should mention this capsule to their prescriber.
One advantage of a formula built from sports-nutrition staples is that the side-effect profiles are unusually well described.
The two effects MemoHoney buyers are most likely to notice
The niacin flush
Nicotinic acid opens small vessels near the skin. The result is warmth, redness and a prickling sensation across the face, neck and chest, usually beginning within fifteen to thirty minutes and settling within an hour. It is uncomfortable, it is harmless, and it is the reason the tolerable upper intake sits at 35 mg a day from supplements rather than higher.
It fades with repeated use over a week or two. Taking the capsule with food reduces it. Because this label prints no niacin figure, whether it happens at all cannot be predicted from reading the bottle.
The beta-alanine tingle
Paraesthesia: pins and needles across the face, scalp and hands, beginning within about twenty minutes and passing within an hour. The ISSN position stand names it as the only reported side effect of beta-alanine and notes that it is attenuated by splitting the dose into 1.6 gram portions or by a sustained-release form. A dosing comparison confirmed the same thing at twelve grams a day.
Those figures are all well beyond a capsule, so this one is unlikely here. It is described because anybody who does feel it should know what it is rather than worry about it.
The MemoHoney interaction worth one conversation
Citrulline, arginine and niacin all widen blood vessels, by different routes and to different degrees. Several common medicines do the same thing on purpose.
- Blood-pressure medicines. Adding a vasodilator to a vasodilator can lower pressure further than intended. The citrulline meta-analysis found a diastolic reduction at six grams a day or more, which is far above a capsule, but the direction of the effect is the point.
- Nitrates. Nitrates work through the nitric oxide pathway directly. This is the clearest overlap in the formula and the reason to mention it.
- Drugs for erectile dysfunction. The same pathway again, from the other end. Anybody taking one should raise this capsule with the prescriber.
- Prescription niacin, and other supplements containing it. The 35 mg upper intake is a daily total across everything. A multivitamin, an energy drink and this capsule in the same morning cannot be added up, because this label prints no figure.
What makes this a conversation rather than a warning is that the amounts here are almost certainly small. A capsule cannot carry six grams of citrulline. The reason to mention it anyway is that the prescriber can see the whole list and a label cannot. VINTAGE MI is the one trial in this reference set where an amino acid on this label produced harm, at nine grams a day in patients after a heart attack, and it is cited here to make the same point: the dose decides.
What the MemoHoney label cannot tell you about safety
One honest gap, stated once.
Niacin is the only ingredient on this label with a published ceiling, and its amount is not printed. For a buyer taking nothing else, that is a small matter: any figure a capsule could hold alongside five other ingredients is likely to sit well under 35 mg. For a buyer already taking a multivitamin, a fortified cereal and an energy drink, it means one line of the day’s total is unreadable.
Above the ceiling the picture is documented rather than speculative, and it is documented at drug doses. HPS2-THRIVE gave 2,000 mg a day with laropiprant to 25,673 patients and recorded serious adverse effects. A case report describes liver injury after large self-administered doses. The FDA Mini-Sentinel system assessed prescription niacin across a national database. None of those is a statement about this capsule. They are the reason the upper intake exists, and the reason a missing figure is worth naming.
If you take one capsule of this and nothing else that contains niacin, the unprinted figure is very unlikely to matter. If you take several supplements, tell a pharmacist what is in each of them and let them do the adding up.
When to stop taking MemoHoney
- A flush that does not fade over a couple of weeks, or one severe enough to be distressing.
- Any rash, swelling or difficulty breathing. That is an allergic reaction and it is a reason to stop and be seen the same day.
- Light-headedness on standing, particularly for anybody on a blood-pressure medicine.
- Stomach upset that does not settle when the capsule is moved to mealtimes.
- Any new or worsening memory symptom. The capsule is not the reason to wait; being assessed is the reason to stop waiting.
None of that is a reason to be nervous about a daily capsule. It is the ordinary list for any supplement, and the 60-day window means stopping costs nothing except the postage on a return.
MemoHoney side effects: frequently asked questions
Does MemoHoney cause a niacin flush?
It can, and the flush is the commonest thing to expect from any niacin-containing capsule: warmth, redness and prickling across the face and chest within half an hour, fading over an hour or so. It is harmless. The 35 mg adult upper intake exists largely because of it.
Does MemoHoney cause tingling?
Paraesthesia is the one side effect the beta-alanine position stand reports, and it is dose-dependent. At the amount a single capsule can hold alongside five other ingredients it is unlikely to appear at all.
Can MemoHoney upset your stomach?
Gram doses of arginine and citrulline can loosen the stomach. Capsule doses rarely do. If it does, take the capsule with breakfast rather than before it.
Does MemoHoney interact with blood pressure medication?
It is the interaction worth raising. Three of the four compounds widen blood vessels, which is the same thing several blood-pressure medicines do, so the effects can add. Mention every ingredient to the prescriber rather than the brand name.
Is it safe to take MemoHoney every day?
The label instruction is one capsule daily and the pack ladder assumes months of daily use. For a healthy adult over 18 with no relevant medicine, daily use as instructed is what the product is sold for. The 60-day window exists so that a buyer who does not get on with it is not stuck with it.
Sources on MemoHoney safety
- Institute of Medicine (US) Standing Committee on the Scientific Evaluation of Dietary Reference Intakes. Niacin. In: Dietary Reference Intakes for Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Vitamin B12, Pantothenic Acid, Biotin, and Choline. Washington (DC): National Academies Press; 1998. The adult tolerable upper intake level is 35 mg/day of nicotinic acid from supplements. NCBI Bookshelf NBK114304. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK114304/
- Haynes R, Valdes-Marquez E, Hopewell JC, et al. Serious Adverse Effects of Extended-release Niacin/Laropiprant: Results From the Heart Protection Study 2-Treatment of HDL to Reduce the Incidence of Vascular Events (HPS2-THRIVE) Trial. Clin Ther. 2019;41(9):1767-1777. Niacin-laropiprant at 2,000/40 mg a day in 25,673 patients. PMID 31447131. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31447131/
- Durham SH, Covington EW, Clemmons KJ. Hepatotoxicity upon using niacin to pass a drug test: A case report. J Am Pharm Assoc (2003). 2018;58(5):564-567. PMID 29941333. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29941333/
- Gagne JJ, Houstoun M, Reichman ME, et al. Safety assessment of niacin in the US Food and Drug Administration's mini-sentinel system. Pharmacoepidemiol Drug Saf. 2018;27(1):30-37. PMID 29108128. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29108128/
- Trexler ET, Smith-Ryan AE, Stout JR, et al. International society of sports nutrition position stand: Beta-Alanine. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2015;12:30. Four to six grams daily for at least four weeks, with paraesthesia the one reported side effect. PMID 26175657. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26175657/
- Dolan E, Swinton PA, Painelli VS, et al. A Systematic Risk Assessment and Meta-Analysis on the Use of Oral beta-Alanine Supplementation. Adv Nutr. 2019;10(3):452-463. PMID 30980076. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30980076/
- Church DD, Hoffman JR, Varanoske AN, et al. Comparison of Two beta-Alanine Dosing Protocols on Muscle Carnosine Elevations. J Am Coll Nutr. 2017;36(8):608-616. A sustained-release 12 g/day protocol raised muscle carnosine faster while blunting the tingle. PMID 28910200. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28910200/
- Barkhidarian B, Khorshidi M, Shab-Bidar S, et al. Effects of L-citrulline supplementation on blood pressure: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Avicenna J Phytomed. 2019;9(1):10-20. Doses ran 3 to 9 g/day, and only the arms at 6 g/day or more moved diastolic pressure. PMID 30788274. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30788274/
- Schulman SP, Becker LC, Kass DA, et al. L-arginine therapy in acute myocardial infarction: the Vascular Interaction With Age in Myocardial Infarction (VINTAGE MI) randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2006;295(1):58-64. L-arginine at a goal dose of 3 g three times daily for six months; the trial was stopped early. PMID 16391217. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16391217/
- Dietary Supplements: What You Need to Know. Office of Dietary Supplements, National Institutes of Health. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/WYNTK-Consumer/
Order MemoHoney knowing what to expect
A flush, a tingle, and one conversation with a prescriber if you take anything for blood pressure. Everything else on this page is the ordinary small print of a daily capsule.
From $158 for two bottles to $294 for six, with 60 days on all three
Choose A MemoHoney PackSwallowed whole, one a day, 30 to a bottle. Batch MEM-26/ME-8729, shipped from the United States.
