High cholesterol puts you at risk for heart attacks and strokes. Hexanicotinate is a dietary supplement. Too little is known about hexanicotinate to judge its effectiveness or safety in the treatment of cholesterol. Talk to your doctor before taking this form of vitamin B-3 for any reason.
Types of Niacin and Their Uses
Vitamin B-3 comes in three basic forms: niacin, found naturally in food and prescribed by doctors; niacinamide, the most common form of vitamin B-3 found in B complex and stand-alone vitamin B-3 supplements, and inositol hexanicotinate, also available without a prescription. Regular niacin is effective in improving the levels of three types of lipids in your bloodstream: low-density lipoprotein, high-density lipoprotein and triglycerides. Niacinamide does not work to lower cholesterol, but it may help to delay the progression of type 1 diabetes and provide relief from symptoms of osteoarthritis. As of 2011, hexanicotinate still was under study for its possible role in cholesterol treatment. Published research about inositol hexanicotinate is sparse and old -- all but one of 31 studies predates 1989, according to a July 23, 2011 search at PubMed, an online database provided as a service of the National Institutes of Health.
Dietary and Therapeutic Doses
The recommended daily allowance for vitamin B-3 ranges from 14 mg to 16 mg. Some niacinamide and hexanicotinate supplements contain 500 mg. Doctors prescribe niacin in doses of up to 3,000 mg -- 3 g -- to treat cholesterol, and in doses of up to 4,000 mg to treat people with a history of heart disease. Side effects may occur at doses of 100 mg a day, typically increasing in severity at higher doses.
Side Effects
Niacin and niacinamide provide different benefits, but have similar side effects. Hexanicotinate may prove safer, but evidence about niacin and niacinamide provides the only currently available means to measure the potential risk for taking hexanicotinate. Moderate effects of taking niacin and niacinamide include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and skin flushes -- redness, burning, itching and tingling of your face and chest. If you take niacin or niacinamide in high doses, serious side effects include gout, stomach ulcers, vision loss and liver damage. If you take any form of niacin, get your liver checked periodically.
Heart Disease
Although the ability of regular niacin to improve cholesterol levels is well-documented, its protective powers against heart disease remain in doubt. Taking niacin may elevate your levels of homocysteine, an enzyme associated with heart disease. A National Institutes of Health Study to determine whether niacin prevented heart disease ended prematurely in May 2011 amid disappointing results and safety concerns. Some people in the study took statins, a cholesterol-lowering drug, and some took both statins and 2,000 mg of niacin daily. The niacin users suffered twice as many strokes and as many heart attacks as other study participants.
References
- University of Maryland Medical Center; Vitamin B3 (Niacin); June 18, 2009
- Medline Plus: Niacin and Niacinamide (Vitamin B3)
- PubMed, U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health: Inositol Hexanicotinate
- National Institutes of Health: NIH Halts Clinical Trial on Combination Cholesterol Treatment; May 26, 2011
- CBC News; Niacin Trial For Heart Disease Stopped Early; May 27, 2011
