Posted on 01/23/2007 6:07:00 PM PST by neverdem
Perhaps you heard it? The wail last month from the labs of heart researchers and the offices of Wall Street analysts?
Pfizer Inc., the pharmaceutical giant, halted late-stage trials of a cholesterol drug called torcetrapib after investigators discovered that it increased heart problems — and death rates — in the test population.
Torcetrapib wasn’t just another scientific misfire; the drug was to have been a blockbuster heralding the transformation of cardiovascular care. Statin drugs like simvastatin (sold as Zocor) and atorvastatin (Lipitor) lower blood levels of LDL, the so-called bad cholesterol, thereby slowing the buildup of plaque in the arteries.
But torcetrapib worked primarily by increasing HDL, or good cholesterol. Among other functions, HDL carries dangerous forms of cholesterol from artery walls to the liver for excretion. The process, called reverse cholesterol transport, is thought to be crucial to preventing clogged arteries.
Many scientists still believe that a statin combined with a drug that raises HDL would mark a significant advance in the treatment of heart disease. But for patients now at high risk of heart attack or stroke, the news is better than it sounds. An effective HDL booster already exists.
It is niacin, the ordinary B vitamin.
In its therapeutic form, nicotinic acid, niacin can increase HDL as much as 35 percent when taken in high doses, usually about 2,000 milligrams per day. It also lowers LDL, though not as sharply as statins do, and it has been shown to reduce serum levels of artery-clogging triglycerides as much as 50 percent. Its principal side effect is an irritating flush caused by the vitamin’s dilation of blood vessels.
Despite its effectiveness, niacin has been the ugly duckling of heart medications, an old remedy that few scientists cared to examine. But that seems likely to change.
“There’s a great unfilled...”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I recently started adding flaxseed meal to oatmeal (I'm trying to make a habit of eating breakfast, which I've never in the past). Is flaxseed oil better than the flaxseed meal?
It sounds like a combination that included niacin which is a vitamin. What makes you think it wasn't the other component? Niacin deficiency is called pellagra.
What do you do?
Are you a follower of Dr. Johanna Budwig?
Thanks pointy_head
Anyone taking supplements should always read up on the side effects.
Atkins did make a comment about some of the side effects of niacin could be avoided by taking the other B vitamins with it. That they work best as a group instead of an individual treatment.
It does not have to be eaten at breakfast...anytime...
The first time you take niacin your body will flush ... you will feel hot. In time that completely disappears.
Yes...but many many today have gotten hold of it. Before this became popular...I was doing it. And she was the one I got that info from. Followed her diet for several yrs too. She helped to change my way of eating...which has been a blessing for sure.
Good call. I lowered my cholestral by 50 points (so far). My doctor had prescribed Lipitor.....but my 77 y.o. Mother said "Bulls**t!" .... and handed me a bottle of flaxseed capsules....
Morale: "Mother knows best!" :)
Ping.
Because, since that event I get pretty red from eating foodstuffs containing niacin.
The drug company Merck is currently developing an anti-flushing agent that is combined with the niacin, to eliminate that side-effect. Longer term, the niacin/anti-flushing agent will be combined with generic Zocor (simvastatin) in a combination tablet.
If that's the cure, I think I'd rather have the problem.
Isn't that in Vegamite that they eat in Australia? I've heard of that causing flushing.
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No. Prunes cause flushing.
My God, the whining on this thread about flushing--! You men are wimpls. If I only flushed and got red in the face when I took niacin, instead of all the time, I'd be thrilled.
I am taking an Anatomy & Physiology class right now & our instructor told us that very same thing. He said it's junk carbs, not fats, that cause bad cholesterol to increase. He also said that cholesterol lowering medicines can lower levels too much & that the body needs cholesterol in the right quantities to function properly.
I think you're right alice..I have read this also. I think people can get into trouble when they take the fats out of their diet.
The more natural the food..the better the body will like it and respond accordingly. Our food today is not a "benefit" to our bodies..we need to get back to a more natural way of eating. Just my 2!
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