NIACIN - Some Important Facts

Niacin is well known as the "cholesterol fighter in a bottle". A quote from long ago, "Niacin is the most inexpensive and effective internal cleansing mechanism known to man."

Following ingestion of niacin, one will expect "side effects" of itching and flushing of the skin. Please note that flushing is normal, and not an allergic reaction. It's what niacin does as it cleanses the body of toxins and poisons. The best side effect I experience is the calmness that follows a dosage.

Cardiovascular disease is significant killer in the United States, and it is frequently associated with high cholesterol. Our American diet, with fast food, toxin-loaded, refined sugar cholesterol-impregnated foods, is the frequent messenger of destruction and death.

In recent years, niacin has become widely used as a potent cholesterol fighter. Various studies indicate doses of niacin increase beneficial high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, lower harmful low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and decrease triglycerides. However, all too often extremely high doses of niacin are prescribed (usually 500 to 4500 mg/day). Those amounts are not necessary. I receive the same flushing reaction from 100 milligrams as I do for 500mg, thus, low dosages are what I recommend.

Studies conducted by scientists from Auburn University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Georgia Southern University, and the Hames Heart Institute (Claxton, Georgia), Professor Lefavi studied the serum cholesterol levels of healthy, college-age athletes. They found that cholesterol could be significantly lowered an average of 14 percent, and total cholesterol/HDL ratios improved by seven percent by merely adding only 200 mcg niacin supplement to their daily diets. These findings are even more significant when we note that subjects were classified as "normal," having cholesterol levels "within normal limits."

Early studies suggest that vitamin B3, or niacin, a common water-soluble vitamin, may help improve neurological function after stroke. When rats with ischemic stroke were given niacin, their brains showed growth of new blood vessels, and sprouting of nerve cells which greatly improved neurological outcome. Stroke is the third-leading cause of death in America and a leading cause of disability. Ischemic strokes occur as a result of an obstruction within a blood vessel supplying blood to the brain. Ischemic stroke accounts for about 87 percent of all cases.

One underlying condition for this type of obstruction is the development of fatty cholesterol deposits lining the vessel walls. Niacin is known to be the most effective medicine in current clinical use for increasing high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), which helps get rid of those fatty deposits.

Therefore, research indicates that niacin is the hope on the horizon for cholesterol's cascading catastrophe. Niacin supplementation is a viable tool in everyone's daily fight against high serum cholesterol and our country's major killer, cardiovascular disease.

For your overall health, you might consider NOT stocking up on cheesecake, doughnuts, candy and other cholesterol-laden garbage. Instead, with this knowledge, go to your local chiropractor or health food store and purchase a natural form of niacin.