A reader of Life Extension reminded me of a piece I wrote about niacin a couple of years back.
Anyone desiring a primer on how and why to use niacin to correct lipid and lipoprotein patterns might find this useful.
While some people, no matter what they do, cannot tolerate niacin (about 10% of people), many others enjoy spectacular benefits.
Q: I recently had a cholesterol profile blood test and learned that I may be at risk of heart disease because my levels of beneficial HDL (high-density lipoprotein) are too low. I read that niacin could help increase my HDL, but my doctor said niacin is dangerous. Whom should I believe?
A: Your doctor would be right—if we were still living in 1985. Since then, however, we have learned how to use niacin (vitamin B3) safely and effectively. Unfortunately, many physicians have not yet caught up, or are still trapped by the idea that cholesterol-lowering statin drugs are the only way to decrease cardiovascular disease risk. I have personally prescribed niacin for thousands of patients as part of our program to reverse coronary disease. In fact, niacin is the closest thing we have available to a perfect treatment that corrects most of the causes of coronary heart disease.
Continued here.