What have you done to improve your HDL levels

I take fish oil and red yeast rice on occasion, haven't really tried niacin. Anyone else have other experience with getting better cholesterol #'s

csuperman said:

I take fish oil and red yeast rice on occasion, haven't really tried niacin. Anyone else have other experience with getting better cholesterol #'s

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I take it niacin is suppose to be good for cholesterol ? Lol shows how much I know but I do know niacin makes me hot and flush red skin! Thankfully I've never had issues with my cholesterol other then once on tren but I stopped the tren and it went back to normal when I was checked again months later

yea I hear you have to use the regular niacin and that the flush free kind does not work.

I never knew that about Niacin. I dont mind the flushed feeling. I actually like it before a workout like how Jack3d gets you.

How much do you take a day?

Nicotinic acid / Niacin belongs to the B vitamins and was thought to raise a persons HDL, good cholesterol, it's also needed for healthy skin, teeth, digestion, eyes and others. You get most of your needed niacin by just eating a good diet. Most MVIs have niacin in them. Studies have shown that a placebo compared to statins( cholesterol meds Rx) shows no difference in HDL elevation. Diet and genetics still play the biggest role in this arena. So, niacin will do nothing for HDL.
Fish Oil/omega-3 and 6s also not going to do much in terms of cholesterol, but it does have an effect on lowering your triglycerides, which can also cause heart problems. Plus, helps as an anti-inflammatory and a number of other positive benefits. But, it also thins your blood and should not be taken if your on any blood thinners.

Get your labs checked,more so if you have a family history of stroke/heart attacks.

i am going to disagree on niacin not helping with hdl levels they even prescribe a form of niacin (doesn't have the flush free ingriediant) for just that reason.

Whoa finally a specialty for me lol Yes niacin is very good for lipid levels... Helps raise HDL as well as lower LDL. Also the fish oil does the same thing. Red Yeast rice again as previously stated is exactly what Lovastatin is actually derived from so it is literally equivalent to the prescription drug Lovastatin. Most of your B Vitamins such as Niacin have positive effects on Lipid levels and then one other addition that helps drastically to improve HDL/LDL ratios is Phytosterols. I could go on and on, on this subject. To reiterate what many have said it does need to be the Flush niacin or niacinimide to be most effective. The flush free is somewhat effective but must be taken in much higher doses to get the same effect. Also the "flush" from niacin eventually quits appearing once your system becomes satuurated. If considering it start in low doses and work your way up to avoid the nasty flush feeling.

MonkeyWrench said:

Nicotinic acid / Niacin belongs to the B vitamins and was thought to raise a persons HDL, good cholesterol, it's also needed for healthy skin, teeth, digestion, eyes and others. You get most of your needed niacin by just eating a good diet. Most MVIs have niacin in them. Studies have shown that a placebo compared to statins( cholesterol meds Rx) shows no difference in HDL elevation. Diet and genetics still play the biggest role in this arena. So, niacin will do nothing for HDL.
Fish Oil/omega-3 and 6s also not going to do much in terms of cholesterol, but it does have an effect on lowering your triglycerides, which can also cause heart problems. Plus, helps as an anti-inflammatory and a number of other positive benefits. But, it also thins your blood and should not be taken if your on any blood thinners.

Get your labs checked,more so if you have a family history of stroke/heart attacks.

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Just wanted to state that the thinning of blood from omega 3's happens at 3 grams or more per day. And fish oil can be given as a prescription to treat HDL/LDL levels not just triglycerides though it dose help with that too... its prescribed at a dose of 800mg per day... you can still use fish oil reasonably with blood thinners just don't go buck wild with it.

FULL PRESCRIBING INFORMATION
1 INDICATIONS AND USAGE
LOVAZA® (omega-3-acid ethyl esters) is indicated as an adjunct to diet to reducetriglyceride (TG) levels in adult patients with severe (≥500 mg/dL) hypertriglyceridemia.
Usage Considerations: Patients should be placed on an appropriate lipid-lowering dietbefore receiving LOVAZA and should continue this diet during treatment with LOVAZA.Laboratory studies should be done to ascertain that the lipid levels are consistently
abnormal before instituting LOVAZA therapy. Every attempt should be made to control serumlipids with appropriate diet, exercise, weight loss in obese patients, and control of any medicalproblems such as diabetes mellitus and hypothyroidism that are contributing to the lipidabnormalities. Medications known to exacerbate hypertriglyceridemia (such as beta blockers,thiazides, estrogens) should be discontinued or changed if possible prior to consideration oftriglyceride-lowering drug therapy.
DOSAGE AND ADMINISTRATION
Assess triglyceride levels carefully before initiating therapy. Identify other causes (e.g.,diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism, or medications) of high triglyceride levels and manage asappropriate. [see Indications and Usage (1)].
Patients should be placed on an appropriate lipid-lowering diet before receiving LOVAZA,and should continue this diet during treatment with LOVAZA. In clinical studies, LOVAZAwas administered with meals.


The daily dose of LOVAZA is 4 grams per day. The daily dose may be taken as a single4-gram dose (4 capsules) or as two 2-gram doses (2 capsules given twice daily).
Patients should be advised to swallow LOVAZA capsules whole. Do not break open,crush, dissolve or chew LOVAZA.
3 DOSAGE FORMS AND STRENGTHS
LOVAZA (omega-3-acid ethyl esters) capsules are supplied as 1-gram transparent soft-gelatin capsules filled with light-yellow oil and bearing the designation LOVAZA.
4 CONTRAINDICATIONS
LOVAZA is contraindicated in patients with known hypersensitivity (e.g., anaphylacticreaction) to LOVAZA or any of its components.




7 DRUG INTERACTIONS
7.1 Anticoagulants or Other Drugs Affecting Coagulation
Some studies with omega-3-acids demonstrated prolongation of bleeding time. Theprolongation of bleeding time reported in these studies has not exceeded normal limits and didnot produce clinically significant bleeding episodes. Clinical studies have not been done tothoroughly examine the effect of LOVAZA and concomitant anticoagulants. Patients receivingtreatment with LOVAZA and an anticoagulant or other drug affecting coagulation should bemonitored periodically (e.g., aspirin, NSAIDS, warfarin, coumarin).




Distributed by:
GlaxoSmithKline
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709

"Patients receivingtreatment with LOVAZA and an anticoagulant or other drug affecting coagulation should bemonitored periodically (e.g., aspirin, NSAIDS, warfarin, coumarin)."

As I stated can be taken together just don't go overboard with it... In other words be SMART about it. And I promise if you keep digging you will see the positive effects of omega-3s on HDL and LDL... just because that study/explaination was done in regards to tri's does not mean it has no effect on HDL/LDL. I've had far too many Living proofs to positive effects in my long life as a supplement dealer to believe it does not have a positive effect on HDL or LDL. I've done far too much research to believe that it has no effect on HDL/LDL. I have my own life and bloodwork to prove it among the testimonies of literally 100's of people. I am not trying to argue but knowing these things is my lively-hood... Its not just something I saw a website somewhere. I do know what I am talking I promise. I'll do a little digging and bring up the studies in regards to HDL/LDL levels. You do know that omega 3's also help protect telomer's which has positive effects on life longevity the fighting of free radicals and testosterone absorption? I'll dig that study up too... Just because you find a site that says one thing doesn't mean that is all it does. Look up fenugreek... it helps women lactate... does that mean that's all it does... no it also helps improve mens free test absorption... I'm a newb to the thread not to supplements... come on man. Sorry you got me ranting but read before you post... it is not all that it does. now off to locate some more studies for you... which by the way next to working out is my favorite thing to do.

Yoda said:

Whoa finally a specialty for me lol Yes niacin is very good for lipid levels... Helps raise HDL as well as lower LDL. Also the fish oil does the same thing. Red Yeast rice again as previously stated is exactly what Lovastatin is actually derived from so it is literally equivalent to the prescription drug Lovastatin. Most of your B Vitamins such as Niacin have positive effects on Lipid levels and then one other addition that helps drastically to improve HDL/LDL ratios is Phytosterols. I could go on and on, on this subject. To reiterate what many have said it does need to be the Flush niacin or niacinimide to be most effective. The flush free is somewhat effective but must be taken in much higher doses to get the same effect. Also the "flush" from niacin eventually quits appearing once your system becomes satuurated. If considering it start in low doses and work your way up to avoid the nasty flush feeling.

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PHARMA & HEALTHCARE | 3/11/2013 @ 5:56PM |13,176 views
Some Experts Defend Niacin For Heart Disease After Failed Study
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On Saturday researchers from Oxford University presented data from a 25,673 patient clinical trial funded by Merck that many doctors say should probably end the widespread use of the B vitamin niacin as a heart drug, both because a pill containing extended-release niacin didn’t prevent heart attacks and strokes and because it caused increases in diabetes complications, bleeding, and infections.
“It makes the whole premise of using niacin not only in question but ready to be retired,” said Clyde Yancy, chief of the division of medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study. “It’s no longer relevant in today’s world.”
But some heart researchers are pushing back, saying that there is still a role for niacin, albeit a diminished one, and that the study does not allow scientists to tease out whether the side effects were due to niacin or a second drug, laropiprant, that Merck added to prevent the hot, unpleasant facial flushing that is one of the main reasons people often refuse to take niacin. Unlike niacin, that drug had not been approved in the U.S.
“This trial really didn’t teach us a whole lot about niacin,” says Howard Weintraub, a cardiologist at NYU Langone Medical Center who has done consulting for AbbVie, the biggest maker of prescription niacin. “I think the world has more or less decided that niacin is dead. But I certainly wouldn’t stop it on a patient who is doing well. I think people need to digest this in a more vigilant and studied matter and not just throw their hands up and throw the drug in the garbage.”
For decades doctors have been giving one or two grams of niacin a day – 100 times the dose in a Centrum vitamin – to improve blood test results in ways that are thought to reduce patient’s cardiovascular risk. AbbVie’s version, Niaspan, generated $911 million in annual sales last year. Beyond niacin, the trial is likely to have a long-term impact on how heart drugs are invented, studied and approved. And for Merck, there is also a point of pride: whether its effort to get a combination of laropiprant and niacin through the Food and Drug Administration was ever a good idea, or was too clever by half. The combination, known as Tredaptive, was approved in Europe but has now been withdrawn worldwide.

Researchers from Ohio State University have published the result of a study in the journal, Brain, Behavior and Immunity that demonstrates how taking omega-3 fatty acid supplements can change the balance of oils in the diet to slow a key biological process linked to aging. The study team found that most healthy, middle-aged and older adults who took omega-3 supplements for four months altered the ratio of their fatty acid consumption in a way that helped preserve tiny segments of DNA in their white blood cells.

Telomeres naturally shorten over time as a consequence of poor diet, stress, environmental and household pollutants. Many consider telomere shortening to be a normal part of the aging process. Scientists know that telomeres shorten faster as a result of increased oxidative stress, a process induced by consuming foods laden in trans or hydrogenated fats and sugars and by chronic disease

Learn more: Omega-3 supplements again shown to preserve telomeres and extend natural lifespan

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this is from the mayo clinic...

Choose healthier fats. A healthy diet includes some fat, but there's a limit. In a heart-healthy diet, between 25 and 35 percent of your total daily calories can come from fat — but saturated fat should account for less than 7 percent of your total daily calories. Avoid foods that contain saturated and trans fats, which raise LDL cholesterol and damage your blood vessels.
Monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats — found in olive, peanut and canola oils — tend to improve HDL's anti-inflammatory abilities. Nuts, fish and other foods containing omega-3 fatty acids are other good choices for improving your LDL cholesterol to HDL cholesterol ratio.

Just as a suggestion get your information from non biased scientific studies... don't follow Pharma... they are the same people who say steroids are bad for you, the same people that say that IGF, despite all of it's positive effects on healthy aging, can't be prescribed for that reason... come on man. Don't side with big pharma especially in a thread sponsored by MC the holders of the greatest IGF ever.

Mayo Clinic again...

Niacin, a B vitamin, has long been used to increase high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or the "good," cholesterol. HDL cholesterol helps sweep up low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or the "bad," cholesterol, in your bloodstream. Although niacin is readily available and effective, it hasn't gotten much attention compared to other cholesterol drugs.
Most discussion about cholesterol focuses on lowering your low-density lipoprotein (LDL), or "bad," cholesterol. That's still an important goal. But boosting your HDL level can be just as important as lowering your LDL cholesterol. Taking niacin — either by itself or along with other cholesterol-lowering medication — may help control your total cholesterol level.

I understand, I'm glad your health is in great shape, I hope this site contributes to that in some way. Positive discussions are always useful. I take omega-3 omega-6s daily as well, and they do have an impact on HDL/LDL, but it's just low or not as big as we thought, and the FDA will not approve it for such treatment.
This has been my passion and life as well, it's my professional career. I've seen all aspects of Health Care, and drug Companies that make over 900 million on a drug, of course they say it works. One day it's the best thing for you and the next day it's the worst. It's an ever changing world, and we go on learning. I'm always open to learn new things, this site is great for that and I'm just one very small cog in this big wheel.

I'm with you, I agree MC best IGF-1 ever. Not siding with big Pharm, but can't throw them out either. It was a political stand point that made a lot of class I-III drugs bad for you, drug companies would love everybody on Test if it profits sales, stocks and the like. I believe strongly in self-education and moderation.

The FDA will never approve any "dietary supplement" for any type of use... they and big pharma are holding hands dancing on us supplement companies. Though the FDA does regulate our fish oil and does allow us to claim improvements in overall lipid levels so its a step. again its not FDA approved, but it is FDA regulated. I agree Learning is my absolute favorite thing next to working out. I'm a big ass nerd. Sorry for ranting but I'm very passionate when I feel I know what I am talking about lol

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and my two cents on steroids being banned for political reasons... it doesn't seem to float with me... they are in the same class as narcotics and hallucinogens... To me that's big pharma trying to solely control it... but I am also anti-big pharm so... I think they are the devil.