Filed under: Health, Healthy Eating, Eat This
Looking for a cheap, easy, and natural way of clearing clogged arteries and correcting cholesterol levels without any side effects? A new study a study presented by the American Heart Association back in November has found that vitamin B3, or niacin, is more effective than cholesterol drug Zetia (also known by the generic name ezetimibe or its sister drug Vytorin). The study was simultaneously published online in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The small study of 208 people, used ultrasound to examine the state of the arteries of the subjects. The study found Zetia to be far inferior to niacin at clearing congested arteries. Perhaps even more significant, those subjects taking niacin were found to have fewer heart attacks and were less likely to die from heart disease than those taking Zetia. According to Forbes.com, it is unusual for a small study to show a significant difference in heart attack rates, but because it was a small study, this finding should only be considered “hypothesis generating, according to the researchers.
Vitamin B3 is relatively infamous for causing a flush, or reddening of the skin shortly after being taken. Unsuspecting people often mistake this for an allergic reaction, wondering why it suddenly feels as if they have a sunburn. This flush is because niacin is a vaso-dialator – it causes the capillaries to expand and fill with blood. This mechanism is likely behind the clearing of cholesterol build-up found in the study.
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