Nicotinamide riboside B3
Restricting calories helps keep blood vessels flexible and lowers blood pressure in overweight and obese adults, but may not be safe for normal-weight older adults. Because stiffening arteries and high blood pressure lead to the most common age-related causes of death, doctors wanted to find a safe alternative to restricting calories.
In this study, 24 lean, healthy men and women, aged 55 to 79, took 500 mg of nicotinamide riboside—a form of vitamin B3—twice per day, or a placebo. After six weeks, while the placebo group had not changed, those in the vitamin B3 group had higher levels of enzymes—called sirtuins—that mimic the effects of calorie restriction. Sirtuins decline with age.
Within the vitamin B3 group, those with stage-1 hypertension (120-139/80-89 mmHg) saw systolic blood pressure decline by nearly 10 points. Doctors said a drop of this size could lower chances of an adverse heart event by 25 percent.
Red yeast rice, plant sterols, curcumin, and polyphenols 
Few studies measure the effects of nutrients on lipids after a meal. In this trial, 80 adults who were overweight but not likely to have heart or circulatory problems cut 600 calories per day from their diets for one month, then took a daily placebo or 166 mg red yeast rice, 720 mg plant sterol esters, 45 mg curcuminoids, 25 mg olive polyphenols, and no other supplements.
While taking the nutrients, triglycerides, total and LDL cholesterol levels were lower than placebo, and lower than the start of the study. And after a high-fat meal, there were fewer signs of blood vessel damage.
Natural Insights for Well Being August 2018
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