These health professionals also are skeptical of the niacin study.
Read this updated book to undestand more about niacin.
I read the Orthomolecular post on Saturday after I sent out my post on the recently published “niacin” study, which indicates that niacin is dangerous.
I wanted to share Orthomolecular's post with you because I feel it is essential in the context of CVD.
Please read their entire post, but here are a few sections I found vital.
These two plasma metabolites are produced after NAD is broken down (nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide; Vitamin B3 is taken to make NAD). This is shown in their manuscript.
However, the authors chose to label 2PY and 4PY as "niacin-associated" metabolites when in in fact these are "NAD-associated" metabolites.
2PY and 4PY are breakdown products of NAD, not niacin at all! This is clearly shown directly in figure 1 and in the last figure of their own manuscript.
Until the publication by the Cleveland Clinic, these metabolites, 2PY and 4PY, had never been associated with negative MACE or any negative outcomes.
In fact, niacin is distinctly different from the other NAD precursors, such as nicotinamide, tryptophan, NMN, and nicotinamide riboside).
Niacin is distinguished as the only NAD precursor that consistently corrects dyslipidemia, favorably adjusting cholesterol, triglycerides, VLDL, LDL, ApoB, and Lp(a) levels in an unparalleled manner, and it has repeatedly reduced cardiovascular disease events in randomized clinical trials. [7]
Much of the uniqueness of niacin is due to the fact that it activates a separate and distinct pathway that none of the other NAD precursors activate. This is the GPR109 receptor-mediated flush-associated pathway. [11,12]
The researchers in this latest NAD-metabolite publication even took their erroneous association one grandiose step further by suggesting that an increase in niacin fortification initiated in ~1974 is what likely led to increases in MACE.
The suggestion that niacin may cause cardiovascular disease is the final straw in a string of errors, and this mistake could have potentially deadly consequences for patients.
Niacin. The Real Story (2nd ed)
If you want to know more about niacin, this recently updated book by Hoffer, Saul, and Foster is an excellent place to start.
This new expanded edition, published in March 2023 by Turner Publishing, nearly doubles the original Niacin: The Real Story, (from 228 to now 490 pages). It has several new chapters and appendices and more than 600 references to document recent advances in scientific knowledge about niacin. Several chapters focus on the different forms of the molecule niacin, how it works, safety of niacin supplements, and how to take niacin supplements.
Bottom Line
It is safe to say the authors of the Orthomolecular post do not support the new niacin research article. I agree with them, as I do not think the new niacin research tells us anything about niacin intake.
If you have CVD or elevated Lp(a), work with a health professional who understands how to use an individualized approach. Most people probably do not need higher niacin doses, but some, according to extensive research, may.
We should never base our health decisions on ONE study, especially one with numerous gaps, such as the recent “niacin dangers for CVD” study.
Show my posts some love, please!
It is just me writing, reading, researching, and seeing clients!
I do not use mainstream social media, so please share my posts so that more people can get informed on how to get and stay healthy.
This is NOT information allopathic practitioners will share with you.
Thanks for adding LOGIC (and truth) to this issue. Niacin (flush in particular) is GOOD for us.
The authors of the new study want more deaths. They are part of the problem.