- There are several non-modifiable and preventable risk factors for heart disease.
- Researchers recently found that high levels of a common B vitamin called niacin in the body may contribute to cardiovascular disease.
- They saw that excess niacin can trigger vascular inflammation, which in turn may lead to atherosclerosis — or plaque buildup on artery walls.
About 20.5 million people around the world died from cardiovascular disease in 2021, making it responsible for a third of all deaths globally.
While there are some unmodifiable risk factors for heart disease, including
Now, researchers from the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute have added to the list of potentially modifiable risk factors with a new study reporting high levels of a common B vitamin called niacin in the body may contribute to cardiovascular disease.
The study was recently published in the journal
Finding a potential link between niacin and heart disease was not the original intention of this study, Dr. Stanley Hazen, The Jan Bleeksma Chair in Vascular Cell Biology and Atherosclerosis, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Diagnostics & Prevention, and director of the Center for Microbiome & Human Health at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute, and lead author of this study told Medical News Today.
“Our initial goal was to identify new pathways that contribute to heart disease. Even when treating cardiovascular disease risk factors to goal (e.g. cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes, etc.), the majority of events (heart attack, stroke, death) continue to occur, or at best, we reduce the event rate by 50%. This means there are other pathways we are not addressing,” Dr. Hazen explained.
Dr. Hazen said he and his team…
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