Does Niacin Help Lower Triglycerides

Is Niacin Good Or Bad For The Liver

Niacin, also known as vitamin B-3, provides numerous health benefits when obtained from dietary sources such as peanuts, salmon, eggs, chicken and beets. It improves the health of your skin, eyes and hair helps you convert carbohydrates to glucose for energyl and helps you metabolize fats and proteins. Dietary niacin also helps improve liver function, but taking niacin in prescription or over-the-counter formulas may damage your liver.

Who Might Consider Taking Niacin

In the past, it was thought that HDL levels would increase even more if niacin were added to cholesterol-lowering medications called statins, such as atorvastatin and simvastatin . But newer studies indicate that niacin provides little additional benefit when compared with statins alone.

However, niacin may be helpful in people who can’t tolerate statins or other cholesterol-lowering medications. Some studies suggest that people with high triglycerides and low HDL cholesterol may benefit from niacin.

What Are The Risks Of Taking Niacin

• Side effects. Niacin can cause flushing, especially when you first begin taking it. Your health care provider will probably suggest increasing the dose slowly to reduce this problem. They might also offer a time-release prescription formulation to control flushing. Niacin can cause upset stomach and diarrhea. However, all of these side effects tend to fade over time.
• Risks. Niacin does have risks. It can cause liver problems, stomach ulcers, changes to glucose levels, muscle damage, low blood pressure, heart rhythm changes, and other issues. People with any health condition including liver or kidney disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, or cardiovascular problems need to talk to a doctor before using niacin supplements. Do not treat high cholesterol on your own with over-the-counter niacin supplements.
• Interactions. If you take any medicines or supplements regularly, talk to your doctor before you start using niacin supplements. They could interact with medicines like diabetes drugs, blood thinners, anticonvulsants, blood pressure medicines, thyroid hormones, and antibiotics as well as supplements like ginkgo biloba and some antioxidants. Alcohol might increase the risk of liver problems. Though niacin is often used along with statins for high cholesterol, this combination may increase the risk for side effects. Get advice from your healthcare provider.

People with uncontrolled gout should also not take niacin supplements.

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What You Need To Know

Niacin is the most important vitamin for maintaining a healthy lipid profile. Due to a lack of keeping up with new published literature, physicians have been slow to recommend it. The recommended dietary allowance of niacin only serves to prevent pellagra. However, dosages much higher produce significant reductions in more harmful forms of cholesterol and triglycerides with increases in more beneficial cholesterol. Results from a clinical trial with 160 participants reveal that niacin combined with a statin drug reduces heart attack occurrence and death by 90 percent. Niacin can exist in an immediate-release and extended-release form. An immediate-release form may provoke a harmless hot flush that is generally well tolerated. The extended-release form offers fewer hot flushes. This article will discuss the research on niacin and its optimal use.

The recommended dietary allowance of niacin to prevent pellagra is 16 mg a day for males and 14 mg for females. Pellagra induced by niacin deficiency was widespread in the United States during the nineteenth century, but is now long forgotten and rarely seen.

When taken at doses greater than the RDA, niacin confers an array of health benefits. Niacin:

• Increases high-density lipoprotein by 20-35%. No other available over-the-counter treatments, and very few drugs, are as effective.

There are two safe forms of niacin:

You can employ several strategies to greatly minimize or even eliminate niacin-induced hot flushes:

Health & Wellness

How Quickly Does Niacin Lower Cholesterol

The problem is that sometimes high cholesterol cant be lowered through healthy habits alone. Choosing between statins and niacin depends greatly on where your own levels stand, as well as the methods you have tried thus far. You should see changes within two to four weeks of taking statins or niacin.

When is the best time to take flush free niacin?

How is this medicine best taken?

• Take with a meal.
• Avoid alcohol, hot drinks, or spicy foods when it is time to take Niacin Flush Free .

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Before Taking This Medicine

You should not take niacin if you are allergic to it.

To make sure you can safely take niacin, tell your doctor if you have ever had:

• severe liver disease

Tell your doctor if you have ever had:

• heart disease, chest pain

It is not known whether niacin will harm an unborn baby. You may not be able to use this medicine during pregnancy. Tell your doctor right away if you become pregnant.

You should not breastfeed while using this medicine.

Do not give niacin to a child without medical advice.

How Long Does It Take For Niacin To Lower Cholesterol

The problem is that sometimes high cholesterol canÕt be lowered through healthy habits alone. Choosing between statins and niacin depends greatly on where your own levels stand, as well as the methods you have tried thus far. You should see changes within two to four weeks of taking statins or niacin.

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Cholesterol Control: Statins Vs Niacin

Overview

Cholesterol often gets a bad rap. While there is such a thing as bad cholesterol, good cholesterol is actually important for heart health. The key, as with all aspects of health, is balance.

Another name for bad cholesterol is low-density lipoprotein . Good cholesterol is formally known as high-density lipoprotein .

When your LDL cholesterol level is high, you might need medical treatment in the form of statins. However, due to the possible side effects, you may also be wondering about alternative treatments, such as niacin .

There are a variety of causes that can lead to high cholesterol. Some of these are out of our control and determined by genetics, and some are lifestyle choices that we can change.

Different factors that can cause or increase your risk of high cholesterol include:

• having a family history of high cholesterol
• eating an unhealthy diet high in unsaturated fats and cholesterol
• lack of exercise
• having other illnesses, such as diabetes
• taking certain medications, including steroids and progestin

Which Is The Culprit: The Drug Or The Vitamin

Which component of the tredaptive drug trial should be blamed for causing problems? Apparently the headlines have implicated niacin by default. After all, it can cause flushes! Well, niacin, an essential nutrient, has been used very safely at very high doses for over 60 years. It has been shown to reduce mortalities due to cardiovascular disease, even 10 years after patients stop taking it. The effect of niacin in preventing dyslipidemia is known to occur through PGD1 pathways. In contrast, laropiprant is a relatively new drug that blocks PDG1 pathways. It was included in the compound drug tredaptive to prevent the niacin flush side effect that sometimes occurs in some patients. However, it was not included for any clinically beneficial effect on cardiovascular disease, and it may have have even blocked the desired effects of niacin. The prostaglandin pathways inside cells are complex, and they are a current topic of intense research. In some studies, laropiprant showed a side effect on platelet DP1 receptors, which suggests that it may have adverse side effects on other receptors than on blood vessels within the skin, for example, in lung tissue and in the brain.

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Niacin Its Hypolipidemic Effects And Cardiovascular Risk

Despite the substantial improvement in medical care for patients suffering from cardiovascular disease , this condition contributes to about 50% of deaths in Europe . Treatment of hyperlipoproteinemia, especially of elevated LDL-cholesterol and treatment of arterial hypertension, which decreases the risk of thrombotic events, are among the main therapeutic targets. It has been proved that intensive hypolipidemic treatment targeting recommended goals, of which statins are the most powerful LDL-C decreasing drug, significantly decreases cardiovascular risk . Moreover, statins favorably influence other parameters of lipoprotein metabolism, such as triacylglycerols and HDL-cholesterol . Nevertheless, even if the target goals of LDL-C are achieved, the risk of cardiovascular events during the following five years remains high ranging from about 6575% . This risk, known as residual cardiovascular risk, is probably particularly high in patients with manifest coronary heart disease or diabetes mellitus. Decrease of HDL-C, elevation of serum TAG, apolipoprotein B, small dense LDL particles, lipoprotein concentrations and some other factors significantly contribute to residual cardiovascular risk. In order to reduce residual risk, a combination of statins with fibrates, niacin or n3 polyunsaturated fatty acids is usually recommended .

Which Niacin Medicine Is Right For You

There are different brands of niacin medicines. Most of these also come in a less expensive, generic form.

Niacin may be prescribed along with other medicines, such as a statin, to help lower cholesterol. Combination tablets that include nicotinic acid plus other medicines are also available.

Niacin is also sold over-the-counter as a supplement. You should not take OTC niacin to help lower cholesterol. Doing so could have serious side effects.

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Atherosclerosis And Heart Disease

In one study, men with existing heart disease slowed down the progression of atherosclerosis by taking niacin along with colestipol. They experienced fewer heart attacks and deaths, as well.

In another study, people with heart disease and high cholesterol who took niacin along with simvastatin had a lower risk of having a first heart attack or stroke. Their risk of death was also lower. In another study, men who took niacin alone seemed to reduce the risk of having a second heart attack, although it did not reduce the risk of death.

Side Effects Risks And Hazards Of Niacin

Although niacin is a natural vitamin, it can pose certain health risks and cause side effects when taken as a supplement. Typically, side effects occur if a person consumes too much niacin.

Consuming niacin through food sources does not pose any harmful side effects or risks. The concentration of niacin in food is too small to affect the body.

Supplement overdosing can cause possible side effects:

• Thyroid disorders
• Taking the following contraindicative medications: zinc, aspirin, blood pressure drugs, alcohol, chromium, statins, and diabetes drugs

Premedical care and a view from your doctor are critical for those at risk. Taking niacin can worsen certain conditions. Thus, ensuring it is safe for you to take niacin before consuming the supplements is essential.

If it is safe for you to take niacin, ensure you follow the safe dosage requirements to combat potential side effects.

More on how to take niacin and dosages to respect:

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How Is This Medicine Best Taken

Use Niacin Flush Free as ordered by your doctor. Read all information given to you. Follow all instructions closely.

• Take with a meal.
• Avoid alcohol, hot drinks, or spicy foods when it is time to take Niacin Flush Free .

What do I do if I miss a dose?

• Take a missed dose as soon as you think about it, with a meal.
• If it is close to the time for your next dose, skip the missed dose and go back to your normal time.
• Do not take 2 doses at the same time or extra doses.

What Life Extension Says About Walnuts And Heart Health

In the August 2011 issue of Life Extension, William Faloon discusses the health impact of walnuts in his editorial entitledFDA Says Walnuts Are Illegal Drugs!Specific to walnuts and heart health, William Faloon had this to say:

The March 4, 1993, issue of theNew England Journal of Medicinepublished the first clinical study showing significant reductions in dangerousLDLand improvement in the lipoprotein profile in response to moderate consumption of walnuts. Later studies revealed that walnuts improveendothelial functionin ways that are independent of cholesterol reduction.

One study published by theAmerican Heart AssociationjournalCirculationon April 6, 2004, showed a64%improvementin a measurement ofendothelial functionwhen walnuts were substituted for other fats in a Mediterranean diet.

As mostLife Extensionmembers are aware, the underlying cause of atherosclerosis is progressiveendothelial dysfunction. Walnuts contain a variety of nutrients including arginine, polyphenols, and omega-3s that support the inner arterial lining and guard against abnormal platelet aggregation. These favorable biological effects explain why walnut consumption confers protection against coronary artery disease.

The US National Library of Medicine database contains no fewer than 35 peer-reviewed published papers supporting a claim that ingesting walnuts improves vascular health and may reduce heart attack risk.

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Are There Any Other Useful Measures Of Hdl

While doubt has been cast on the role of HDL-C as a target for therapy, there is growing evidence that there are other measures of HDL that may be more closely linked with cardiovascular events.

The biochemical mechanisms underlying the relationships between HDL and cardiovascular risk are complex. The primary atheroprotective role of HDL is in reverse cholesterol transport , which allows for the excretion of excess cholesterol from peripheral tissues via the bile and feces . Cholesterol efflux is the first critical step of the RCT pathway and is the mechanism by which macrophages in the vessel wall secrete cholesterol outside cells . Lipid-poor apolipoprotein A-1 is secreted from the liver and intestine and interacts with ATP-binding cassette transporter A-1 on hepatocytes and macrophage foam cells in atheromatous plaques, leading to efflux of free cholesterol and phospholipids. Free cholesterol in the resulting nascent HDL is esterified in the presence of lecithin/cholesterol acyltransferase , leading to the formation of mature HDL. Mature HDL then acts as an acceptor for ABCG-1-mediated cholesterol efflux from macrophages. Cholesteryl ester transfer protein mediates the exchange of HDL cholesteryl ester for triglycerides in Apo-B-containing lipoproteins such as LDL. Mature HDL particles can deliver cholesterol to the liver by the hepatic scavenger receptor type B1 which can then be secreted into bile, completing the RCT pathway .

Raising Hdl With Niacin

Normally, niacin is derived from foods like chicken and tuna. It helps your body use energy from food as well as promotes healthy eyes, hair, and skin. It also supports good digestion and your nervous system.

Niacin is most commonly used in people who have high cholesterol but cant take statins. Niacin should not be used by people with liver disease, stomach ulcers, or active bleeding. It is sometimes used in people who have already had a heart attack. Doctors are currently debating whether niacin should be used in patients who have a high risk of heart disease.

Niacin can also be used to boost your HDL cholesterol levels and decrease your levels of triglycerides, a type of fat that increases your risk of heart disease. The Mayo Clinic estimates that taking niacin supplements may increase HDL levels by 30 percent or more. However, the amount of niacin needed to have this effect is much higher than the amount normally found in the diet. At these high levels, there can be some undesirable side effects, so be sure to talk to your doctor before beginning to take high doses of niacin.

Niacin is widely available in vitamin stores, as well as in the supplement section of drugstores. Some doctors recommend prescription forms for those who may benefit from high doses.

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How Much Niacin Should You Take

Since niacin can be used in different ways, talk to your health care provider about the best dosage for you.

Everyone needs a certain amount of niacin — from food or supplements — for the body to function normally. This amount is called the dietary reference intake , a term that is replacing the older and more familiar RDA . For niacin, the DRIs vary with age and other factors and are given in milligrams of niacin equivalents:

• Children: between 2-16 milligrams daily, depending on age
• Men: 16 milligrams daily
• Women : 18 milligrams daily
• Women : 17 milligrams daily
• Maximum daily intake for adults of all ages: 35 milligrams daily

Most people can get the amount of niacin they need by eating a healthy diet.

If your doctor prescribes niacin, you might want to take it with food. This can prevent upset stomach. To reduce flushing — a harmless but uncomfortable side effect of niacin that describes redness and warmth in the face and neck — your health care provider might recommend taking niacin along with aspirin and avoiding alcohol and spicy foods.

How To Take B Vitamins Together

For most people, vitamin B3 can usually be obtained through a healthy diet in high enough amounts to meet your daily needs. However, if you are considering supplementation for a quick and easy way to bump up your intake, be sure to look for a high-quality supplement that is made using whole food sources. Not only does this allow your body to better absorb and utilize these nutrients, but it can also reduce the risk of unwanted vitamin B complex side effects.

Taking a B complex is a great option to ensure youre meeting your needs for the entire array of B vitamins that your body needs. Consuming B vitamins together in a quality B vitamin complex supplement also allows them to work better in the body, since the B vitamins interact with one another to help optimize digestion and absorption.

B vitamins can be beneficial in supporting metabolism and promoting heart, brain, muscle and joint health, but remember that its always preferable to consume plenty of whole foods that naturally contain all the vitamins and minerals you need instead. Try enjoying high-quality cuts of meat, including free-range and grass-fed poultry and beef, fish, beans, nuts and seeds, in order to make sure youre getting your daily fix of B vitamins. Unlike supplementation, eating plenty of foods that contain niacin should not result in levels high enough to cause any harmful niacin side effects.

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