As an alternative to statins, some people prefer to use niacin to help control cholesterol levels, and who can blame them? After all even though statins are very effective at controlling cholesterol levels they have some pretty serious side effects including muscle pain, heart failure and memory issues to name but a few.
But how does niacin work? Niacin is actually a vitamin (B3) and it helps by taking it at a higher than normal dosage, however because you are doing this it is advisable to do it under medical supervision, even though it is available without prescription, in case any adverse reactions occur.
The niacin actually helps your body to raise the good cholesterol (HDL) and lower the bad cholesterol (LDL).
As far as niacin and cholesterol reduction goes, yes it is effective.
Having been prescribed to patients since back in the 1950's, there has been a lot of success with niacin and cholesterol control, however there has recently been further studies to decide conclusively how effective it is.
The study involved just under 400 men and women aged 21 to 75 and lasted for 16 weeks and at the end of it the results were that increased HDL by 25%, slightly reduced LDL and reduced triglyceride levels by 30%.
The only real concern from that report is that it only slightly lowers LDL, however with the raised HDL then it will catch more of the bad cholesterol to take back to the liver for reprocessing.
While statins are known to have loads of side effects, niacin is not too bad although there are some to be aware of.
The main one is flushing, although this passes is in time and also taking aspirin can help too.
More of a concern though is that it can raise liver enzymes and liver toxicity, this is why it is important to use niacin under medical supervision so that you can keep an eye on what is happening to your liver.
Also, if you are diabetic then you should not use niacin as it aggravates blood sugar problems.
Taking all of that into consideration, considering niacin is a "natural" treatment compared to statins, it may be more worthwhile looking at naturally blended supplements as they again do not involve drugs, and also do not have any side effects to worry about so you do not have to keep getting your enzyme levels checked and is perfectly safe if you are diabetic.