A prescription for shrimp-shell cocktails
Millions of people peel shrimp and toss the shells. They could be throwing out a gold mine of health-promoting chemicals.
The shell of the lowly shrimp, a crustacean, contains a chemical called chitosan, and it just might help take care of some runaway epidemics in the world—such as obesity and high cholesterol.
A study tested the effects of chitosan on the body weight, plasma lipids, and fatty-acid levels of rats. The results were quite positive, showing that chitosan—taken as a dietary supplement—reduced weight gain and increased HDL-cholesterol levels.
That finding admittedly applied to rats, but the far-reaching implications for humans are enormous.
No one can deny the effects of obesity and high cholesterol, which lead to such devastating diseases as diabetes and coronary heart disease. They’re now rampant worldwide, with an equally devastating impact on public health and the economic health of countries.
This could signal the beginning of a whole slew of chitosan-based products and supplements. Remember—you read it here in House Calls first.
While you’re waiting for those products to hit the market, you could take a niacin supplement (that’s vitamin B3), which raises HDL while lowering triglycerides. Regular niacin from your local grocery store—under the supervision of a doctor can do the trick just fine. Start with 500 mg per day; you can then increase the dosage to as much as 2,000 mg per day—but again, only under the supervision of a doctor.
The one irritant for a lot of people who take niacin is the flushing that goes along with it. A no-flush form of niacin, called inositol hexaniacinate, is less likely to cause the flushing—but it also may not have as pronounced an effect on HDL for some folks. I recommend you go ahead and start with the no-flush version and see how it works for you. If it works well, you’re in business. If not, you can move on to regular niacin.
There’s also a prescription form of niacin called Niaspan that many doctors use. It’s a little less likely to cause flushing, but it also costs considerably more than the off-the-shelf niacin. No matter which form you use, make sure your doctor is checking your liver blood tests several times a year—since niacin at these doses may cause mild damage in a small number of people.
