Policosanol

[anaho]

Just ordered the bioscanner. I can only hope all these supplements I am taking will help before I give up and go with statins drugs.

[uoflmom56]

Hello again! I posted a month or so ago about my saga with going off my Lipitor and using policosanol. I had high hopes! My first results after being on 20mg for one month was tc 290 (high!), ldl 183 (high), hdl 93 and Trigs 70. Thats exceptionally good scores for hdl and trigs. My chiropractor,who agreed to supervise my little test, recommended I add fish oil for a month to bring down the ldl. Well, my month is up and my total cholesterol went to 304, ldl 207, hdl 87 and trigs 51. So,for me policosanol really boosted my hdl but my bad stuff continued to go up. My trigs are low, I think, because I do low carb. So, the doctor, who really hates the statins, recommended I go back on the Lipitor. I am not overweight, eat little red meat or real eggs, don't smoke, drink very little achohol, blah,blah,blah... I was told it was hereditary. What else can I do? Is there anything else out there thats not deadly that actually brings down ldl? I evidently am not one of those where policosonal works, although I really was hoping it would. Thanks for "listening."

uoflmom56

[uoflmom56]

What do you think? I just posted earlier how I have not had good success with policosanol and just now found this on a website sponsored by PDR, the Physician Desk Reference group:

PHARMACOKINETICS
The absorption of octacosanol is variable and low. Octacosanol absorption, following ingestion, ranges from about 11% in rats and humans to about 28% in rabbits. Less octacosanol is absorbed on an empty stomach and more with food. The higher the lipid content of food, the greater the absorption. Octacosanol is absorbed from the small intestine into the lymph and from there enters the bloodstream. Distribution is mainly to the liver, digestive tract, skeletal muscle and adipose tissue. Octacosanol may be partly oxidized to the long-chain fatty acid, octacosanoic acid, which then undergoes beta-oxidation.

Following a single dose of octacosanol in experimental animals, peak plasma levels are observed between 30 minutes to two hours. Following a single dose of octacosanol in human volunteers, peak plasma levels are observed at one hour and four hours later. Bile is the main route of excretion. Renal excretion is negligible.(end of quote)

Octoacosanol is the main sugar alcohol in policosanol. I have been taking the policosanol for 2 months on an empty stomach before bed. Maybe most of my policosanol never was absorbed, therefore was ineffective. The article also stated that it should be taken with meals. Maybe this information will be helpful to others trying it. I'm considering giving it another month and taking it at proper times. Tell me what you all out there think.

Thanks!

uoflmom56
P.S. I originally posted the web site and edited after reading another post that stated you couldn't. Am I allowed to cut and paste a quote, as above? If not, I'll remove that too, and I guess paraphrase.

[Bobby D]

[SIZE=2]

Originally Posted by pcovers

I have posted this is a couple of other threads, but I wanted to start a thread under the name policosanol so that others might see it. I'd be interested to hear if others have had the same positive benefits as I have.

I take 20MG/day. Raised my HDL from a very low 31 to a still low but much better 41. Over the last 8 years, which included at least 16 lipid profiles, my HDL never went above 31. After 8 weeks of taking 20MG/day of policosanol the two most recent lipid profiles both indicated 41. Also lowered my LDL by 25%.


Very safe. Many, many clicial trials. No known side effects. Made from Sugar cane. Nothing works for everyone, but it is worth serious cosnideration for anyone looking to lower cholesterol without using statins or other prescription drugs.

Policosanol is a mixture of fatty alcohols derived from the wax of sugar cane. These active substances work to lower cholesterol levels by several mechanisms. It inhibits cholesterol manufacturer but does so prior to HMG-CoA reductase. In addition policosanol also exerts exceptional effects on LDL-cholesterol metabolism. Specifically, policosanol increases LDL receptor processing. It exerts this effect by increasing the binding of LDL to its receptor, improving the transport of LDL into the liver cell, and significantly enhancing the breakdown of LDL cholesterol. In addition to lowering LDL, policosanol has also been shown to increase HDL, protect against free radical damage to LDL-cholesterol, and inhibit excessive platelet aggregation.

The clinical studies have included short and long-term, randomized, placebo-controlled and comparative studies versus statins (lovastatin, pravastatin and simvastatin), fibrates (bezafibrate and gemfibrozil), acipimox, and probucol involving nearly 3,000 subjects. In these studies, policosanol in dosages ranging from 5 to 20 mg/day, has demonstrated significant improvements in LDL-C, total cholesterol, HDL-C, and the ratios of total cholesterol to HDL-C and LDL-C to HDL-C. Policosanol produces cholesterol-lowering effects within the first 6-8 weeks of use. At a daily dosage of 10 mg of policosanol at night, LDL cholesterol levels typically drop by 20 to 25% within the first six months of therapy. At a dosage of 20 mg, LDL levels typically drop by 25-30%. HDL cholesterol levels typically increase by 15 to 25% after only two months of use. The combined LDL reduction and HDL increase can produce dramatic improvements in the LDL to HDL ratio.

Go to the following site, sponsored by the US National Library of Medicine. [url="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=PubMed"]http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=PubMed[/url]
Type in policosanol then press GO.

You will find a significant amount of peer reviewed studies on the effect of policosanol on cholesterol.

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[Bobby D]

I am new to this, but what I wanted to say , is that I just started taking Policosanol. I did alot of reading up on it, and it seems to be worth trying. I was on Lipitor, but the side effects were killing me. Now that I am off the Lipitor I do feel so much better! Not 100% but better.I have been taking Policosanol now for two weeks, and no side effects yet. I hope to keep You-All informed on how it is, or is not working.
Bobby D