I am a pharmaceutical reps. for one of the cholesterol drugs (statins) and I would like to clarify some stuff. Diet and exercise will help, but very rarely will this get your cholesterol under control and most will need a statin. These are very safe and I'm on one myself.....I have a total cholesterol of 195, but do have a family history....my thoughts are that if I can cut my risk of heart attack or stroke by one-half....sign me up. As far as Niacin, it is not well tolerated at the doses needed to do any good, it does not have the outcome data (reducing events) as the statins, and it is actually poor at controlling the bad cholesterol...mainly just works on your good cholesterol. Ask your doctor again, it is basically malpractice for them not to put you on a statin if you have high cholesterol. Not trying to be too technical, but these statins are basically wonder drugs!