Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Rugby niacin is an excellent value for those using high dose niacin to lower their LDL ("bad" cholesterol) and raise their HDL ("good" cholesterol). A typical therapeutic dose is 1500 mg per day, that is, 3 tablets of this product. Thus, one gets 333 days of medicine for $25.99. Not bad! Tablets are disc-shaped like 325 mg aspirin tablets but thicker. They are not packaged as gelatin capsules as many other niacin products are. My bottle, purchased in March 2013, came with an expiration of November 2014, ample time to go through the 1000 tablets. Now the caveat. I find niacin flushing [*] more noticeable with this product than with the other niacin I have taken, Solgar's 500 mg rapid release niacin capsules. Solgar, however, is about four times more expensive (about $11.00 for 100 capsules). For people starting high dose niacin therapy, I would *not* recommend this product. You might try Solgar instead. With time, flushing diminishes, moreover, you just get used to it. That's the time, then, to consider using Rugby. Incidentally, if your aim is reducing cholesterol levels, then stay away from "no flush" or "flush free" niacin formulations. (Look for inositol or inositol niacinate in the ingredient list.) Clinical research casts doubt on whether no flush niacin is effective in cholesterol reduction. [*] In case you are wondering what niacin "flush" is, for me, it is experienced as an itchy, tingling feeling on my neck and lower face. It begins about 15 to 45 min. after taking niacin, feels at worst like a mild sunburn, and lasts for 15 or 20 minutes. In some people, there is brief reddening of the skin. Once you know about the flush, it becomes a minor inconvenience. Often I don't experience it all. But for people not expecting it, niacin flush can be most disconcerting and even frightening.