Why reinvent the wheel?
Pfizer just threw a boatload of money at producing torcetrapib, a cholesterol drug that was to be the Holy Grail in promoting heart health. The goal was to produce a blockbuster that did something no other cholesterol drug on the market is doing: Increase HDL, or "good" cholesterol. I can tell you for a fact that both Pfizer and Wall Street were licking their chops at the prospect of the windfall profits that would have been theirs if the drug had succeeded without actually killing people. Unfortunately, more people died from taking the drug than from not taking it. That's right, often when a drug doesn't make it through a trial, as in this case, it was because the actual trial resulted in actual deaths. We sometimes tend to forget this.
They're not going to tell you the truth, which is that they can't earn such a huge profit on vitamins. But in fact, there is a vitamin that has been effective in raising HDL levels. That would be niacin, a good old-fashioned B vitamin - vitamin B3, to be exact.
Instead, everyone has been crying that the trials for torcetrapib had to be halted in its tracks, when they should be crying over the unnecessary suffering endured by the test population-an increase in heart problems, and even death!
Now there's an easy-to-use prescription form called Niaspan that costs between $80 to $140, depending on your daily dose. Some doctors feel comfortable using it and do so. Though the prescription form reportedly has fewer side effects-specifically flushing-than the plain vanilla off-the-shelf niacin, it can still be a problem for plenty of people, in my experience.
What burns me up is how Big Pharma made all this fuss over tocetrapid while a perfectly good therapy takes a back seat because you can't bang a ridiculous profit out of it.
Nicotinic acid is the therapeutic formulation for niacin. And when doses are taken of about 2,000 milligrams per day, it has been found to increase HDL by as much as 35 percent. Even more promising, it can lower LDL, and also reduce serum levels of triglycerides by as much as 50 percent. More than that, it can improve LDL particle size, encouraging the fluffier forms less likely to stick to artery walls and cause blockages.
Now the good news is that with a little care-and supervision from you doctor-you can use the regular old off-the-shelf niacin, which will cost you just a few dollars a month. Here are a few hints:
Start at 500 mg with dinner. It's important to take with a meal.
Avoid hot drinks at the same time, because these can provoke the skin flushing that niacin is famous for.
Take one or two baby aspirin about half an hour beforehand, at least at the outset. This will help prevent flushing as well. So if you're on aspirin for your heart, take it then. If not, you can consider using it for a few weeks until you get going, then tapering it off over a week.
Dose increases should really be under a doctor's supervision, and no more than 500 mg increase per week. I've had most of my patients on 1000 mg. Maximum allowable dose is 2000 mg day. Niacin at these doses can be toxic to the liver, although this is very rare with the regular release vitamin formulation. Longer-acting sustained release formulas are more likely to cause liver problems, so I have avoided them. You need go no further than Costco for an inexpensive, high quality bottle of niacin.
As it turns out, the news on niacin isn't "new" news. Back in 1975, there was a study done involving 8,341 men who had suffered a heart attack. Five treatments were tested to see the best one for preventing second heart attacks. Niacin was the winner, with 26 percent reduction in heart attacks and 27 percent reduction in strokes compared to those taking a placebo. Also, there was an 11 percent lower reduction in deaths for the group on niacin.
Reducing heart disease by increasing good cholesterol was an idea whose time had come-all the more reason why the drug companies latched onto it. Especially after the amazing success they had with "statin" drugs like Lipitor. (Never mind the side effects.)
It's time for niacin to take the spotlight, based on even more good news: 23 different clinical trials involving 83,000 heart disease patients that increased HDL by 30 percent and lowered LDL or "bad" cholesterol by 40 percent, the risk of heart attack or stroke was reduced by a whopping 70 percent-just from taking niacin.
Talk about a rate of return! Will the Big Pharma train never end?
