Has anyone taken niacin to lower chol.? What were the results? How much did you take? What form of niacin did you take and were there any problems with it?

Hi BamaC

You can find all your answers in the High Cholesterol thread on this forum. There's a current post about No-Flush Niacin.

See you there................

PollyAnn

Has anyone taken niacin to lower chol.? What were the results? How much did you take? What form of niacin did you take and were there any problems with it?

You would want to take the flush Niacin. You have to start very slow. You can do this by buying the tablets that you can quarter. Even so, you may have some flushing to begin with but it will go away. I think TwinLabs makes a brand that is 500mg. tablets.

I definitely lowered my cholesterol by using flush niacin, which was recommended to me by a nurse practitoner.

I take 500mg of niacinamide in the morning and 500mg after supper for general detox effect. I too have been told that the non-flush type won't work. Whatever modification they make to it to eliminate flushing in some people also removes the active part that works. I have not had any flushing, no red face or heat whatsoever. Must need a high amount for this to occur.

Peregrine and gort, thanks for the replies. Gort, in searching the net, I found sources that said niacinamide does not lower cholesterol and that inositol hexaniacinate or inositol hexanicotinate (flush-free niacin) not only are effective at lowering chol.,but are less likely to have side effects. Since I've already ordered the stuff, I'll give it a try and see what happens. Will probably have new labs in Dec. Will let you know the results.

I use Slo-Niacin from Walgreens, and get a blood test every few months for cholesterol, as well as liver enzymes (the indicator of potential problem for niacin use). Watching what I eat, taking fish oils, and exercising some, takes my total cholesterol to about 290.

I don't have my lab report in front of me, but today my cholesterol is about 184 with HDL at 56 to 60. That's due to:

1250 mg Slo-Niacin daily (500 AM, 750 PM)
1800 mg Phytosterols daily (I get mine from endurance products, but lots of places carry this, and some margarines like Benecol have them)
600 mg Pantethine (again from endurance, but others have it)

The Phytosterols and Pantethine have no side effects that I know of or can feel. But they only buy a 10 to 15% reduction in cholesterol. The Pantethine costs a little over $20 a month, so I'm not sure it's worth it. The niacin, which is doing most of the heavy lifting, only costs $10 a month or so.

The extended release formula is less likely to cause flushing. Ramping up to any dosage over at least 4 weeks is necessary to minimize flushing. Liver Enzymes may rise to double normal levels but have always returned to normal with me in 30 to 45 days. (But some people will not tolerate niacin and this should be monitored!)

The very very occasional flush is worth the benefits to me. Search the internet to compare statins against niacin on all factors to see what I mean: lowering total cholesterol, raising HDL, optimizing HDL2 to HDL3 balance, impact on small-particle LDL vs. large-particle LDL, impact on apolipoprotein-b, impact on CRP.

xmarc999, that's very encouraging. Have already ordered the inositol hexaniacinate so I'll try that and get re-tested in Dec. Gort, I forgot to ask you how the niacinamide has affected your cholesterol.