On his 2/14/01 newscasts, Paul Harvey again referred to CHOLESTEROL CONTROL WITHOUT DIET! THE NIACIN SOLUTION. He cited a recent report at the American Heart Association annual meeting in which a combination of niacin and simvastatin (Zocor) reduced heart attacks and other coronary events by 70% in a 3-year study of persons who already had coronary disease. Then he asked his listeners not to say that Paul Harvey said they didn't have to diet and should take niacin, but he told them to have their doctors watch the New England Journal of Medicine later this year for the report.

He went on to say, "Meanwhile, YOU can read about the cholesterol matter in a book by Dr. William B. Parsons Jr." At this point he DID NOT give the book's title, sending listeners to their bookstores or to AMAZON.COM with just the author's name. He was right in saying that the book is readable by the general public and gives its readers a handle on the cholesterol situation they have not had before.

Here's the news release from which Mr. Harvey excerpted this item:

B-VITAMIN NIACIN IMPROVES RESULTS OF STATINS BY RAISING GOOD CHOLESTEROL. Combination Reduced Coronary Events by 'Phenomenal' 70%.

Niacin, a B-complex vitamin known as a cholesterol-reducing agent since 1955, greatly reduces heart attacks and strokes when used with "statin" drugs, according to two recent reports at meetings of heart specialists. Dr. Moti Kashyap (Long Beach, CA) and Dr. Greg Brown (Seattle) each studied niacin-statin combinations and found markedly better cholesterol results than with either drug alone. Both drugs lower bad cholesterol, which fell 45% in Kashyap's 800-patient VA study, but niacin also raises good cholesterol, which rose by 41%. Triglycerides, another hazardous blood fat, fell by 42%, also due to niacin. This study combined lovastatin (Mevacor) with niacin.

In Brown's study, which followed 160 patients with coronary disease for three years, niacin plus simvastatin (Zocor) reduced coronary events by 70%. Earlier studies had shown that niacin and statin drugs used singly reduced such events by 25% to 35%. Artery x-rays showed that progression of narrowing in coronary arteries was "virtually halted," Brown announced.

Dr. William Parsons (Scottsdale, AZ), a niacin proponent since he pioneered its use in US in the mid-1950's, called the reduction of events in Brown's study "truly phenomenal" because they were so much better than previous results with either drug alone. He pointed out that the statins reduce bad cholesterol, as niacin does, but niacin also raises good cholesterol, lowers triglycerides, and favorably changes several other cholesterol fractions, which no other form of treatment can match.

The National Cholesterol Education Program teaches that persons with previous coronary events require stricter control of cholesterol than others. Publicity about Vice-President Cheney's previous heart attack, bypass surgery, and his recent stent placement has brought this to the public's attention.

Full results of the Kashyap and Brown studies will be published later this year. Experts predict that doctors and patients will then be seeking information about niacin. In his book, CHOLESTEROL CONTROL WITHOUT DIET! THE NIACIN SOLUTION, Parsons tells how to use niacin successfully and manage its side effects, including flushing of the skin early in treatment. He assures that a skillful doctor can minimize or prevent flushing by using time-release niacin and starting each day with a plain aspirin tablet for the first few weeks.

It makes sense to start treatment with niacin because of its distinctive advantages, adding a statin only if niacin alone fails to control bad cholesterol adequately, Parsons advised. There is a major difference in expense, niacin costing $9 to $12 a month, compared to $50 to over $300 a month for the widely advertised statins. In recent years the US market for statins has been $7 to $8 billion annually.