Niacin is an essential B vitamin, but new research reveals that too much of it may harm your heart. Found in many foods that millions of Americans eat, excessive amounts of niacin can trigger inflammation and damage blood vessels, scientists report in the Feb. 19 issue of the journal Nature Medicine. “The average person should avoid niacin supplements now that we have reason to believe that taking too much niacin can potentially lead to an increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease,” senior study author Dr. Stanley Hazen, chair of cardiovascular and metabolic sciences at the Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner Research Institute, told NBC News. The recommended daily allowance of niacin for men is 16 milligrams per day, while it is 14 milligrams a day for women who are not pregnant, according to the Mayo Clinic. Ever since the 1940s, when grains and cereals began to be fortified with niacin, Americans have gotten plenty of the vitamin in their diet. The move to fortify those foods was prompted by evidence suggesting that very low levels of niacin could trigger the development of a potentially fatal condition called pellagra, said Hazen, who is also co-section head of preventive cardiology at the Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute. Ironically, niacin supplements were once prescribed by doctors to improve cholesterol levels. Dr. Amanda Doran, an assistant professor of medicine in the division of cardiovascular medicine…  read on >  read on >

When settling into your senior years, you need to be especially careful when taking medicines, herbal remedies and supplements, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says. That’s because older adults are likely to use more prescription and over-the-counter medications, which increases the risk of harmful side effects and drug interactions, the FDA said in a news release. In addition, physical changes associated with aging can affect the way your body handles medications, and even how different medicines work in your body. For example, the liver and kidneys might not work as well as they do for younger people, which can affect how a drug breaks down and leaves the body. Even medications that worked well for a person during their youth and middle age might need to be adjusted or changed later in life, the FDA says. Keeping all that in mind, the FDA has some important safety tips: Take medication as prescribed. The best medicine in the world won’t work unless taken correctly. Take prescriptions following the directions on the label and your doctor’s instructions. For example, medicines that treat chronic conditions like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes work only when taken regularly and as directed. Don’t skip doses or stop taking a prescribed drug without first consulting with your doctor. Not taking medicine as prescribed can lead to even worse illness,…  read on >  read on >

Acupuncture may protect people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) from stroke, new research suggests. The study indicates that a course of acupuncture treatment may lower blood levels of inflammatory proteins called cytokines that are linked to heart disease, the No. 1 cause of death in people with RA. “Inflammation is a consistent and independent predictor of cardiovascular disease in [rheumatoid arthritis],” researchers wrote in the Feb. 13 issue of BMJ Open. “Unstable blood pressure and lipid profiles are two risk factors for ischemic stroke, and acupuncture has the advantage of controlling both.” Ischemic strokes are caused by a blood clot in the brain. For this study, a team led by Dr. Hung-Rong Yen, of the School of Chinese Medicine at China Medical University in Taiwan, looked at a database of more than 23,000 RA patients in Taiwan.  That included nearly 12,300 patients who were treated with acupuncture between 1997 and 2010. On average, patients began acupuncture treatment 2.9 years after getting their RA diagnosis. The vast majority (87%) were treated with manual acupuncture. Three percent were treated with electroacupuncture, in which an electrode producing a low electrical pulse is attached to the needle, and 10% received both treatments. Patients were monitored through 2011.  Stroke risk rose with patients’ age and coexisting conditions. For instance, those who had high blood pressure had twice the risk as those…  read on >  read on >

As if painful migraines, hot flashes and night sweats weren’t bad enough, many women in menopause are facing a significantly bigger threat. New research suggests that women with both migraines and vasomotor symptoms (hot flashes and night sweats) are significantly more likely to develop heart disease or have a stroke. “There is a critical need to further refine existing cardiovascular disease risk-prediction models to identify women who are future risk,” said Dr. Stephanie Faubion, medical director for The Menopause Society. Published online Feb. 14 in the journal Menopause, the study found that women with a history of both symptoms were 1.5 times as likely to develop heart disease and 1.7 times as likely to have a stroke when compared to other women. The link was particularly strong among women who have migraines with aura. The study, which followed women ages 18 to 30 into their early 60s, included nearly 2,000 women.  The findings are noteworthy, the society said, because migraine headaches and hot flashes are so common.  Nearly 8 in 10 menopausal women experience hot flashes, while migraines affect about 17.5% of women in their late reproductive years, the society said. The study was described as the first to examine the joint influences of migraine and hot flashes/night sweats independent of estrogen use and traditional risk factors for heart disease, such as tobacco use, cholesterol…  read on >  read on >

A mental workout can speed teens’ recovery from a concussion, especially if it takes place in the classroom. New research shows that returning to school early after a concussion and limiting screen time help symptoms resolve sooner. “Children and teens should be encouraged to get back to their routines and take part in activities like clubs, jobs and homework after experiencing concussion,” said study co-author Dr. Thomas Pommering, director of concussion clinics at Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Division of Sports Medicine.  “But keep in mind that for some patients, prolonged screen time in non-school activities such as gaming or internet scrolling can affect recovery if it is worsening their symptoms,” he added in a hospital news release. While other studies have touted the benefits of an early return to physical activity, little has been known about how mental activity affects post-concussion outcomes.  For this study, researchers at Nationwide Children’s Center for Injury Research and Policy in Ohio looked at the intensity and duration of daily mental activities in 11- to 17-year-olds and their effect on concussion recovery. The young people reported increases in activities such as reading, listening to music, watching TV and using the phone, as well as how much time they devoted to mental activities overall as their symptoms eased. Clinical guidelines have recommended young people with concussions get complete physical and mental rest…  read on >  read on >

Preventing noise-related hearing loss from a loud concert, a banging jackhammer or a rifle blast could be as simple as managing levels of zinc within the inner ear, a new study reports. Such hearing loss stems from cellular damage associated with an excess of free-floating zinc in the inner ear, researchers say. Lab mouse experiments showed drugs that soak up the excess zinc can help restore lost hearing or even protect the ear against loud noises. “Noise-induced hearing loss impairs millions of lives but, because the biology of hearing loss is not fully understood, preventing hearing loss has been an ongoing challenge,” said senior researcher Thanos Tzounopoulos, director of the Pittsburgh Hearing Research Center at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Zinc is a mineral essential to proper cellular function and hearing, researchers said in background notes. But they found that inner ear levels of zinc spike hours after mice are exposed to loud noise. This excess zinc causes cell damage and disrupts normal cell-to-cell communication, resulting in temporary and sometimes permanent hearing loss. Mice treated with a slow-releasing compound that trapped excess free zinc were less prone to hearing loss, and were protected from noise-induced damage, researchers said in a university news release. Researchers are developing a simple, over-the-counter medication that a person could take to protect their ears from loud noise prior…  read on >  read on >