On his 2/14/01 newscasts, Paul Harvey again referred to CHOLESTEROL CONTROL Not including DIET! THE NIACIN Answer. He cited a recent report at the American Heart Association annual meeting in which a combination of niacin and simvastatin (Zocor) reduced heart attacks and other coronary events by 70% in a 3-year learn of persons who already had coronary disease. Then he asked his listeners not to say this Paul Harvey said they didn't have to diet and should get niacin, but he told them to have their doctors watch the New England Journal of Medicine later this year for the report.
He went on to say, "Meanwhile, YOU can read concerning the cholesterol matter in a book by Dr. William B. Parsons Jr." At this point he DID NOT provide the book's title, sending listeners to their bookstores or to AMAZON.COM together with just the author's name. He was right in saying this the book is readable by the general public and provides its readers a handle on the cholesterol situation they have not had before.
Here's the news open from which Mr. Harvey excerpted this product:
B-VITAMIN NIACIN Advances Outcomes OF STATINS BY RAISING GOOD CHOLESTEROL. Combination Reduced Coronary Events by 'Phenomenal' 70%.
Niacin, a B-advanced vitamin known as a cholesterol-reducing agent since 1955, greatly decreases heart attacks and strokes when used together with "statin" drugs, according to two recent reports at meetings of heart specialists. Dr. Moti Kashyap (Long Beach, CA) and Dr. Greg Brown (Seattle) every studied niacin-statin combinations and found markedly better cholesterol outcomes than together with either drug alone. Together drugs lower bad cholesterol, which fell 45% in Kashyap's 800-patient VA learn, but niacin in addition raises good cholesterol, which rose by 41%. Triglycerides, another hazardous blood fat, fell by 42%, in addition due to niacin. This learn combined lovastatin (Mevacor) together with niacin.
In Brown's learn, which followed 160 patients together with coronary disease for three years, niacin in addition simvastatin (Zocor) reduced coronary events by 70%. Earlier studies had shown this niacin and statin drugs used singly reduced such events by 25% to 35%. Artery x-rays showed this progression of narrowing in coronary arteries was "virtually halted," Brown announced.
Dr. William Parsons (Scottsdale, AZ), a niacin proponent since he pioneered its use in US in the mid-1950's, called the reduction of events in Brown's learn "truly phenomenal" for the reason that they were so much better than previous outcomes together with either drug alone. He pointed out this the statins decrease bad cholesterol, as niacin does, but niacin in addition raises good cholesterol, lowers triglycerides, and favorably changes several other cholesterol fractions, which no other shape of treatment can match.
The National Cholesterol Education Program teaches this persons together with previous coronary events require stricter control of cholesterol than others. Publicity concerning Vice-President Cheney's previous heart attack, bypass surgery, and his recent stent positioning has delivered this to the public's attention.
Full outcomes of the Kashyap and Brown studies will be published later this year. Experts predict this doctors and patients will then be seeking information concerning niacin. In his book, CHOLESTEROL CONTROL Not including DIET! THE NIACIN Answer, Parsons tells how to use niacin successfully and manage its side results, counting flushing of the skin early in treatment. He assures this a skillful doctor can minimize or prevent flushing by utilizing time-open niacin and starting every day together with a plain aspirin tablet for the first few weeks.
It makes sense to begin treatment together with niacin for the reason that of its unique advantages, adding a statin only if niacin alone fails to control bad cholesterol adequately, Parsons advised. There is a key difference in expense, niacin costing $9 to $12 a month, compared to $50 to over $300 a month for the widely advertised statins. In recent years the US market for statins has been $7 to $8 billion annually.