A research on Kidney diseases at a hospital here has revealed that the intake of vitamin pill- Vitamin B3 or Niacin- would control phosphate and thus prevent heart attack in the chronic kidney disorder patients.
Dr Krishnaswamy Sampathkumar, head of nephrology department of Meenakshi Mission Hospital and Research Centre, who headed the research team, said Hyperphosphatemia (presence of phosphate at high level in blood) was common in Hemodialysis (Hd) patients and it caused heart attack leading to death.
Though all wastes in the blood were removed through the process of Hd, phosphate was not removed and it blocks the Coronoary arteries.
The vitamin pill, costing Rs two was tried daily on the patients undergoing Hd for eight weeks. It was stopped for two weeks for a small group and Serum Phosphorous level was measured. The result was that the Serum Phosphorous levels changed significantly from a pre-treatment level of 7.7_+1.5mg/dl to post treatment level of 5.6_+1Mg/dl(p<0.001), he said.Two new drugs called “Lanthanum Carbonate and Sevelamer are being used in the Western Countries as solution to the problem. But it is expensive costing from Rs 1000 to Rs 3000 a year+, he said.Oral Nicotinic Acid (B3) had proved not only safe but also low cost powerful agent for phosphorous control in dialysis patients. The International Urology and Nephrology Magazine, a bible for Nephrologists, had published the research work. Canada and United States had joined the Hospital for further reserarch works, he said.