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Niacin
and Your Heart (Cholesterol)
There are new drugs comes out every
day which all claims to help you in dropping your cholesterol
level and prevent heart attacks. They first give you some
scary pictures about high cholesterol and get you all nervous
and worried. Then they tell you their newly invented drug
can solve all the problems for you. Finally they show you
an expensive price tag but made sure that you believe this
is what you have to pay in order to get rid all of the worries.
On these ads, they mention very little or sometimes they
even hide the "really" scary side-effects from
the newly invented drugs. These drugs are usually very expensive.
For example, a month's supply of pravastatin (Pravachol)
costs about $70.00 and you probably get relied on it for
the rest of your life. For some people, there's a better
and cheaper way: niacin. Doctors have know for many years
that large doses of niacin - between 2g to 3g a day - lower
LDL cholesterol and triglycerids and raise HDL cholesterol.
This will definitely decreases your risk of a heart attack.
In fact, pharmacological doses of nicotinic acid, but not
nicotinamide, have been known to reduce serum cholesterol
since 1955. A study had been done where 8,000 men with previous
heart attacks for 6 years were followed and studied. In
the group that took 3 grams of nicotinic acid daily, total
blood cholesterol decreased by an average of 10%, triglycerides
decreased by 26%, recurrent nonfatal myocardial infarction
decreased by 27%, and cerebrovascular events (stroke + transient
ischemic attacks) decreased by 26% compared to the placebo
group. A recent randomized controlled trial found that a
combination of nicotinic acid (2 to 3 grams/day) and a cholesterol-lowering
drug (simvastatin) resulted in greater benefits on serum
HDL levels and cardiovascular events, such as heart attack
and stroke, than placebo in patients with coronary artery
disease and low HDL levels.
Niacin
and HIV/AIDS
It has been hypothesized that infection
with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, increases the risk
of niacin deficiency. The IF-g levels are elevated in individuals
infected with HIV, and higher IF-g levels have been associated
with poorer prognosis. By stimulating the enzyme, indoleamine
2,3 dioxygenase (IDO), IF-g is known to increase the breakdown
of tryptophan, a niacin precursor, supporting the idea that
infection with HIV increases the risk of niacin deficiency.
In a very small, uncontrolled study, treatment of four HIV
positive individuals with 1,000 to 1,500 mg/day of nicotinamide
for 2 months resulted in 40% increases in plasma tryptophan
levels. An observational study of 281 HIV-positive men found
that higher levels of niacin intake were associated with
decreased progression rate to AIDS and improved survival.
Niacin
and Diabetes
Due to the improvement in our daily life,
the new generations are eating and drinking food products
that has high alimentation. Diabetes is no longer just happening
to the elders but the youngers as well. A serious form of
Diabetes called insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM)
in children is known to result from the autoimmune destruction
of insulin-secreting beta (b)-cells in the pancreas. Evidence
from in vitro and animal research indicates that high levels
of nicotinamide protect b-cells from damage by toxic chemicals,
inflammatory white blood cells, and reactive oxygen species.
Pharmacological doses of nicotinamide (up to 3 grams/day)
were first used to protect b-cells in patients shortly after
the onset of IDDM. An analysis of ten published trials (five
placebo-controlled) found evidence of improved b-cell function
after one year of treatment with nicotinamide, but failed
to find any clinical evidence of improved glycemic (blood
glucose) control. Recently, high doses of nicotinamide were
found to decrease insulin sensitivity in high-risk relatives
of IDDM patients, which might explain the finding of improved
b-cell function without concomitant improvement in glycemic
control. Several pilot studies for the prevention of IDDM
in ICA-positive relatives of patients with IDDM yielded
conflicting results, while a large randomized trial in school
children that was not placebo-controlled found a significantly
lower incidence of IDDM in the nicotinamide-treated group.
A large multi-center randomized controlled trial of nicotinamide
in ICA-positive siblings of IDDM patients between 3 and
12 years of age recently failed to find a difference in
the incidence of IDDM after 3 years. Another large multicenter
trial of nicotinamide in high-risk relatives of IDDM patients
is presently in progress. Unlike nicotinamide, nicotinic
acid has not been found effective in the prevention of IDDM.
About
Niacin Supplements
Niacin is sold in tablet and capsule
forms. Multivitamins contain about 25 milligrams of niacinamide
(or sometimes nicotinic acid); B-complex supplements contain
50 to 100 milligrams of niacinamide; and a single niacin
supplement usually contains 500 milligrams. For normal daily
supplements, we recommend people take either a complete
multi-vitamin or a complete B-complex vitamin. We found
the following two are the best products from our conducted
research: Rainbow Light 40+ Complete
Multivitamin and Twinlab B-complex vitamin.
Click
here for Rainbow Light 40+ Complete Multivitamin
Click
here for Twinlab B-100 Caps
For people considering take niacin for
medical purposes, you may want to consider Solgar's No-Flash
Niacin Supplement.
Click
here for Solgar's No-Flush Niacin 500mg
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