Re: Niacin + other B vitamins?

>>I have CAD and, in the wake an angioplasty, I've been taking high-dose
(1000 mg) niacin + 40mg lovastatin, in the form of Advicor, to control
my cholesterol. It works great, but I've been reading that one
shouldn't supplement just one B vitamin without supplementing them
all -- something about megadoses of one "crowding out" the others.

Has anyone heard of this? I'm thinking of adding a so-called "Balanced

B-100" vitamin formulation, which has thiamine, riboflavin, B-6, B-12
and pantothenic acid at about the same doses, relative to their RDAs,
as Advicor does niacin. But might this reduce the efficacy of the
niacin by, say, competing with it in the gut and/or liver?

Thanks for any insight<<


COMMENT:

There isn't any "competition" among the B-vitamins, and so far as I can
tell, the idea that taking any one of them in excess, causing increased
need for the others in any way, is a gigantic urban legend. It's hard
to prove a negative, but nobody I've every seen make the claim had any
evidence to back it up, and it's certainly not something you'll read in
any nutrition text. [Anybody here wanna have a go at this--- don't
even think of doing it without posting some abstracts]. I think somehow
it all goes back to Adele Davis, who had some pretty wonky ideas about
how you had to supplement *everything,* or else somehow the ones you
didn't, would get you.

No, in particular there's NO reason to think any other B-vitamins will
change the effect niacin is having on your cholesterol. THAT isn't a
vitamin effect anyway (since it's not caused by niacinamide at any
dose). More likely, it's the beginning of a toxic effect on the liver.
But if you stay on the edge of it carefully, your body can sustain it.
Afterall, a great many drug effects are the "beginning" of toxicity.
It's just that in this case, a compound that can be a vitamin is being
taken in "drug-like" doses for a "drug-like" effect. And can have "drug
like" side effects, too!

So why are so many "B-complexes" labeled "balanced" because they have
the same mg dose of many of the B-vitamins in them? Shear ignorance,
is why. And tradition. Which in turn feed into what the generic mix
companies make, which is what your expensive companies buy to tablet
and mark up. You don't see the same mg of biotin in these things, do
you? Nah, it's WAY too expensive for that. So the charade ends at
reality there.

All that said, far be it from me to encourage somebody NOT to take a B
complex. But there's no reason to overboard. B vitamins ARE stored by
the body for weeks (another urban legend that they aren't). Half of
one of those 50 mg "complexes" taken 3 times a week is plenty. That
much will turn your pee riboflavin yellow for a few hours, saturate
your body at near renal-dump levels, and may even give you
vitamin-breath for a while. The only thing to add is some extra folate
to make up for the fact that folate amounts in tablets are still
limited by law to 800 mcg or less (and 400 mcg in B-complexes). But it
takes several times that much to do the best job on your homocysteine
levels.

SBH

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