Does niacin help raise HDL or "good cholesterol"?

Nicotinic acid, also called niacin or vitamin B3, is a potent lipid-lowering drug that works in the liver by affecting the production of blood fats. It's used to lower triglycerides and LDL cholesterol, and raise HDL ("good") cholesterol. Niacin comes in prescription form and as "dietary supplements." Dietary supplement niacin is not regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the same way that prescription niacin is. It may contain widely variable amounts of niacin 鈥?from none to much more than the label states. The amount of niacin may even vary from lot to lot of the same brand. Dietary supplement niacin must not be used as a substitute for prescription niacin. It should not be used for lowering cholesterol because of potential very serious side effects.

For those people with diabetes, recent studies suggest that lower dosages and newer formulations of niacin can be used safely by patients with good glycemic control.

Side effects: Skin flushing (prevent with aspirin dose prior to niacin), Dizziness, Skin rashes, Stomach irritation, Elevated blood glucose, Liver damage, Headache

I stopped drinking milk...my bad cholestorol dropped and I never get headaches or acid reflux anymore.

not really, it just lowers LDL
exercise and omega three fatty acids will raise HDL

It helps get rid of of the bad cholesterol, it cleans your system out.

Niacin is used with diet changes (restriction of cholesterol and fat intake) to reduce the amount of cholesterol and certain fatty substances in your blood. Niacin is also used to prevent and treat pellagra (niacin deficiency), a disease caused by inadequate diet and other medical problems. Niacin is a B-complex vitamin

High doses of niacin have beneficial effects on serum lipids, but use of this agent has been limited by a high rate of side effects. Researchers at St Luke's Hospital and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio, have evaluated the efficacy of a lower dose of niacin. Fifty-five patients, all under medical care for long-term, stable cardiovascular disease, were started on 250 mg/day niacin, increasing to 1 g/day over four weeks. Seventeen similar patients who preferred not to receive niacin served as controls. Serum lipids were measured at baseline and after three and six months of therapy. Thirteen patients (24%) dropped out of the study in its early stages, mainly because of side effects such as severe upper body flushing, itching, and gastrointestinal symptoms. Overall, 40% of the niacin-treated patients dropped out before completing the study--again mainly because of side effects--although serious side effects of the types reported in higher-dose studies (peptic ulcer, jaundice with abnormal liver function) did not occur. Among patients completing the study, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol rose significantly and the total/HDL cholesterol ratio decreased significantly after three months, with additional significant changes in the same directions after six months. The mean HDL increase was 31% and the mean total/HDL cholesterol ratio decrease was 27%. There were no significant changes in total cholesterol and triglyceride levels. The author notes that the findings must be considered preliminary because the study, limited in size and duration, was not double-blinded or randomized and may have contained a biased control group. Despite these limitations and the problems with side effects, he believes low-dose niacin is worthy of further consideration "as an inexpensive agent especially useful for elevating HDL cholesterol level and altering the total cholesterol/HDL cholesterol ratio."

High dose is required to reduce LDL. No it will not raise the HDL. You need some supplements of Omega3 to raise HDL.