You’ve almost certainly seen advertisements on television and elsewhere for that group of heart drugs known as statins, among the best-selling medications in America for several years.
Likely, though, you’ve heard far less about the “B” vitamins that can help fight LDL, the bad cholesterol, and boost HDL, the good stuff. It can also reduce the level of another blood lipid, triglycerides.
One of the most common forms of the vitamin is niacin, which is marketed under many names, some immediate-release, some timed release and some extended release. It’s usually recommended that it be used in combination with other drugs. It can help decrease the bad cholesterol, but may also raise the level of an amino acid in your body called homocysteine, and that’s not a good thing. Homocysteine is thought to be related to a higher risk of coronary artery disease if levels are too high.
Fortunately, another “B” vitamin, folic acid, is good for helping to break down homocysteine.
You can get folic acid supplements, but you can also help yourself by eating plenty of these things: beans and legumes, citrus fruits, whole grain, dark green leafy vegetables, poultry, pork, shellfish and liver.
Both niacin and folic acid are water soluble, meaning any leftover amounts leave your body through urine.
Niacin can reduce LDL levels by up to 20 percent and triglycerides by up to 50 percent. HDL levels can jump by as much as 35 percent.
New research published in the medical journal Lancet Neurology, however, suggests that the while safe, vitamin B treatments may not reduce the danger of stroke or heart attack in people who have already had those conditions.
If you take vitamin B medications, your doctor needs to monitor your health so that you don’t develop a side effect.
Doses of niacin vary. Doctors can prescribe therapeutic amounts that can be as high as 1,500 mg daily, or even higher.
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