Slow-Release Niacin lowers bad cholesterol and raises the good one significantly

Doctors at the University of Minnesota recruited 120 people with high cholesterol into their study. Forty were supplemented with Niacin in a slow release form at 1,500 mg a day for 6 weeks. Forty other people were given Inositol Hexanicotinate (no-flush niacin) same dose, same period. The third group of forty received inactive placebo for comparisons sake.

Inositol Hexanicotinate had little effect just like placebo but Niacin Slow-Release had a great impact on cholesterol. Over the six-week study Niacin lowered LDL-cholesterol by a strong 18 % and lowered total cholesterol by 11%. Non-HDL cholesterol (all the bad cholesterols grouped together) was lowered by 15 % and triglycerides were lowered by 9 %. HDL, the good cholesterol was increased by a strong 12 %. There was a clinically insignificant small rise in liver enzyme levels that were still very much within the normal range with the Niacin use. Some of the test subjects were actually able to obtain good results with dosages as little as 500mg to 1000mg of Slow-Release Niacin daily. The study results are published in the Journal of Clinical Lipidology.