Oftentimes people become so fixed in their thinking – and in their belief that everyone else thinks the same way – that they unwittingly raise the curtain and expose the wizard of their flawed thinking, showing it for what it really is. Statinators have done just that in an article in the current issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) . The study, Effects of High-Dose Modified-Release Nicotinic Acid on Atherosclerosis and Vascular Function , compares the increase in carotid artery plaque over a 12-month period in subjects taking niacin versus those taking a placebo. It turns out that those subjects taking the niacin experienced a shrinkage of their plaque whereas plaque grew larger on those taking the placebo. The revealing hitch in this study is that both groups were on statins, which means the group on statins alone was the placebo group. Therefore the data from this study shows that statins alone do not reverse the growth of plaque (at least not plaque in the carotid arteries) despite lowering LDL levels. Taking the logic a little further, the data from this study gives weight to the idea that a lowered LDL doesn’t reduce plaque growth. There is a lot we can glean from this study and the from the authors’ commentary on it. Let’s take a look. Researchers randomized 71 subjects–all of whom were on statins and all of whom had low HDL-C and either a) type II diabetes with coronary artery disease or b) carotid or peripheral atherosclerosis–into two groups. The researchers did magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of the carotid arteries of both groups, then started the subjects in the study group on niacin while the subjects in the other group got a placebo. Subjects in both groups continued with their statin therapy. At six months and one year later, MRI studies determined the degree of carotid atherosclerosis and whether it had increased, decreased or remained the same. After one year, it was found that the subjects receiving the niacin along with their statin significantly reduced their carotid atherosclerosis as compared to those subjects on placebo. And remember, the placebo group of subjects were also on statins and still experienced an increase in their carotid atherosclerosis. Almost 90 percent (63) of the 71 subjects were males with an average age of 65. As I’ve discussed previously , there is no evidence that statins provide any benefit in terms of decreased overall mortality to females of any age or to men over the age of 65 regardless of their state of health. The only group that statins has shown to provide any benefit for in terms of decreases all-cause mortality (the only statistic that really counts) is men under the age of 65 who have been diagnosed with heart disease. Even in that group, benefit is so small as to be questionable.

Original Source of Statinators spill the beans