Policosanol Improves the Cholesterol and Raises the HDL of Older People with High Blood Pressure

Policosanol is a cholesterol lowering nutrient that is safe and well tolerated even in people who use many different prescription drugs. In fact, Policosanol lacks significant adverse effects including a lack of drug to drug interactions.

205 older patients with high cholesterol who were taking Beta-Blocking drugs for high blood pressure were randomly placed on either Policosanol at 5mg a day for 3 years or placebo. After one year Policosanol significantly reduced LDL-cholesterol by about 21%, lowered total cholesterol by over 19% and decreased triglycerides by almost 26% versus placebo. HDL-cholesterol was improved by 4.1% versus placebo. At the end of three years Policosanol had decreased LDL-cholesterol by over 34%, decreased total cholesterol by over 23%, decreased triglycerides by over 21%, and improved HDL by over 12%.

Policosanol seemed to decrease the risk of suffering a serious vascular event. Only 3% of the Policosanol patients had a serious event while 14% of the placebo group had a serious event. The blood pressure of patients on Policosanol and Beta-Blockers had improved compared to the blood pressure of patients on Beta-Blockers and placebo. The study appears in the November-December 2004 issue of the International Journal of Clinical Pharmacology Research.

Adding Policosanol with Zetia may be Safe for Virtually Everyone with Elevated LDL-Cholesterol

Two agents have so little toxicity, with enough ability to suitably lower cholesterol that is acceptable and affordable for population-wide application: Policosanol and Ezitimibe. Policosanol derived from sugar cane wax has effects on serum lipids comparable to statin drugs, and works by decreasing the manufacture of cholesterol, however, unlike statins, Policosanol appears to be free of side effects or risks. Ezitimibe is a newly approved drug that is potent and a highly specific inhibitor of a cholesterol transporter needed to absorb cholesterol from food. At daily doses of 10mg it inhibits the absorption of cholesterol and reduces LDL-cholesterol by approximately 18%. Ezitimibe (trade name Zetia) also seems to lack side effects. It may be possible that a once a day serving of Ezitimibe-Policosanol could safely reduce LDL-cholesterol by 40%, without side effects, and this combination could safely be recommended to virtually anyone whose LDL-cholesterol levels were not already ideal. The evidence based article is published in Medical Hypotheses , Volume 64, Issue 3, 2005.