Policosanol—Finally put to rest
Consistent with the Track Your Plaque experience, policosanol has now been shown in an independent study to have no LDL cholesterol-reducing effects. Take it off your list of supplements.
Despite the success of the statin
cholesterol-reducing agents, many people are on the lookout for a
more natural substitute, one that achieves similar effects but
without the side-effects, particularly muscle aches and weakness.
One such nutritional supplement, purported to exert similar LDL-reducing
effects as the statin drugs, is policosanol. Sold worldwide with
considerable success, many users have in fact replaced prescribed
statin drugs with this agent. But does it truly work?
A unique pedigree
At first glance, the clinical data behind
policosanol appeared unassailable: 30 studies enrolling thousands of
patients, most of the studies performed using the gold standard
study design of “active” agent vs. placebo. LDL reductions of around
25% were observed. HDL was also increased, blood sugar reduced along
with diabetic tendencies, and even lipoprotein(a) lowered.
Policosanol is a mixture of sugar-alcohols derived from sugar cane
and is thus inexpensive to produce, manufactured from a readily
available material, and is essentially side-effect free.
Too good to be true?
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Copyright 2006, Track Your Plaque.