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Niacin , also known as nicotinic acid , vitamin B 3 or vitamin PP does not protect patients with vascular and heart disease from stroke or heart attack . A clinical trial which compared combination niacin with a statinversus statins alone had to be ended 18 months early, according toAbbot Laboratories and the National Heart, Lung and BloodInstitute. Niacin is an organic compound with the formula C 6 H 5 NO 2 . It is considered as one of the 48 essential human nutrients(depending on the definition used). The AIM-HIGH trail wanted to determine whether patients withvascular and heart disease might benefit from having niacin addedto their statin therapy. Niacin is known to raise the levels ofgood cholesterol - HDL - and scientists thought this would provide patients withsome protection from stroke or heart attack. Surprisingly, this didnot occur. The trial involved 3,414 patients who were at risk of suffering acardiovascular event, such as a heart attack or stroke; they wereall from the USA and Canada. 1,718 of them received a statin plushigh-dose extended release niacin, while the rest (1,696) continuedon their statin only treatment. Although those on the combination niacin treatment did eventuallyhave higher HDL cholesterol and lower blood triglyceride levels,their risk of heart attack or stroke did not improve. In fact, itgot worse - 1.6% of the niacin group had a cardiovascular eventcompared to 0.7% of those on statins alone. The researchers admitted that the results surprised them. Thecombination treatment group also had the same risk of beinghospitalized as those just on statins. This clinical study has raised more questions than answers, expertsare now saying. How can a drug which is known to raise HDL (goodcholesterol) levels by between 10% and 30% not improve outcomes?HDL is supposed to help clear plaque from the arteries. Mostindividuals with naturally high HDL levels are known to have a muchlower risk of heart attack or stroke. All this study tells us sofar is that heart disease is much more complicated than we hadthought. Although this might not be good news for patients at risk of acardiovascular event, dropping niacin from their treatment may haveone advantage. It is not a nice drug to take, because it commonlycauses unpleasant headaches and flushing. Written by Christian Nordqvist Copyright: Medical News Today Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today Additional References Citations. I am an expert from ledhalogenlights.com, while we provides the quality product, such as LED Recessed Downlights Manufacturer , LED Track Light Fixtures, Dimmable LED Light Bulbs,and more.
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