Heart Health
Niacin + a statin does not add up to benefit
In 2011, federal health officials ended an important government-funded clinical trial designed to test whether taking niacin in addition to a cholesterol-lowering statin might do more to lower heart attack and stroke risk than just taking a statin alone. Interim data indicated that the niacin had no benefit and may have been associated with a small, unexplained increase in stroke risk.
The notion of adding niacin to statins came about for several reasons. Statins do a terrific job of cranking down LDL levels, but they're not big HDL boosters. Studies have shown that increasing HDL while taking a statin might lower cardiovascular risk further. And pharmaceutical companies are looking for new products, especially now that the patents on their brand-name statins, like Lipitor (atorvastatin), have expired.
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