Policosanol is a compound of fatty alcohols derived from sugar cane or beeswax. As a cholesterol-lowering agent, it has developed a reputation as an effective alternative to statin drugs. And in striking contrast to statin use, policosanol has been shown to be virtually free of adverse side effects.

But when you start cutting in on drug company profits, don't expect the powers that be to kindly move aside to let you through. In fact, expect just the opposite.

"I smell a rat."
That's how HSI Panelist Dr Allan Spreen, describes his reaction to a policosanol study that appeared in a recent issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The study was conducted by Dr. Heiner K. Berthold, the executive secretary of the Drug Commission of the German Medical Association. Last month, Dr. Berthold told Reuters Health that he launched the research because "almost all" the existing policosanol studies that show the sugar cane extract to be effective at lowering cholesterol have been conducted by a single research group in Cuba. The Cuban studies were financed by Dalmer Laboratories, a marketer of policosanol.

Okay, fair enough. Naturally, since he was concerned about the source and quality of previous studies, Dr. Berthold mounted a study that lasted long enough to fairly test policosanol's effectiveness on a large cohort of subjects, right?

Well...not so much. Fewer than 145 subjects with moderately high LDL levels were recruited for a trial period that only ran for 12 weeks. Results showed that none of the subjects who took policosanol decreased LDL levels by more than 10 percent. And when it came to lowering LDL, there was no statistical difference between policosanol and placebo. Which begs the question: Can the placebo effect actually lower cholesterol levels?

Naturally, when Reuters Health weighed this one study against all the previous positive studies, policosanol was dismissed as "trendy," while the lead paragraph stated flatly that the treatment "appears to be useless."

Not so fast
Let's return to Dr. Spreen's comments to get some history on how natural therapies that lower cholesterol are treated by the drug industry...

"As you know, the really effective agent, cholestin (red yeast rice) was literally outlawed, in court, by pharmaceutical company action (at least the name was, which is its actual name, not a brand name). And no therapeutic claims can be made about the yeast.

Policosanol, which came about later, is the only competitor left other than niacin (which to be really effective causes you to get the infamous 'flush'). Fortunately, nobody disputes the niacin effect...it's even a prescription 'drug' now.

However, it's no real competitor since few people will tolerate the harmless side effect (and a few are allergic to it)".

"Returning to policosanol - it's long been proven to work, and in more than one study.
Ethically, the current study should never have been published without offering some rationale for it being at such odds with the other reports (but hey, we're talking the hundreds of billions [!] of pounds in statin drug profits here)".

Until tomorrow,
Rachael
UK Editor
Sources:
"Effect of Policosanol on Lipid Levels Among Patients With Hypercholesterolemia or Combined Hyperlipidemia" Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 295, No. 19, jama.ama-assn.org
"Trendy Supplement Doesn't Lower Cholesterol" Reuters Health, 5/17/06, reutershealth.com
"The Sweet Secret for Effectively Lowering Cholesterol Levels - Three Studies Prove Sugar Can Extract More Potent than 'Statin' Drugs" Jonathan V. Wright, M.D., Nutrition & Healing, January 2002, wrightnewsletter.com
"Focus Pocus" Mary Huhn, The New York Post, 4/6/06, nypost.com

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