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Policosanol: Lower Cholesterol Without the Hazards of Toxic Statin Drugs

By now you’ve probably heard about the recent study concerning the cholesterol-lowering drug Vytorin®.

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It showed that people with high genetic risk for heart disease were helped no more by Vytorin than people taking the statin drug Zocor®, one of Vytorin’s two ingredients. The embarrassment to Vytorin’s two joint manufacturers, Merck and Schering-Plough, was compounded by the fact the study was completed in April 2006 but the negative results were not released for nearly two years. Why the delay? Well, Vytorin sales were about $2 billion in the same time period, but then big drug companies would never withhold negative information about their products just to increase their profits, now would they?

Once again, the integrity of Big Pharma and the FDA is called into question and natural cholesterol-controlling alternatives like policosonal are overshadowed by the hoopla and hype. But in light of the Vytorin debate, you might do well to educate yourself a bit more on both the pros and cons of statin drugs, as well as the benefits of policosonal. Read on so that you can make the best decision for your long-term heart health.

The truth about statins

When your doctor orders a blood lipid panel and discovers that your cholesterol levels are too high for comfort, there’s a good chance you’ll be put on a cholesterol-lowering medication such as bile acid sequestrants (WelChol®, Questran® and Colestid®) or HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors (statins) (Lipator®, Crestor®, Pravachol® and Zocor) or their generic counterparts, (lovastatin, pravastatin and simvastain). These drugs block the production of cholesterol in the liver itself. They lower LDL, the “bad” cholesterol, and have a mild effect in raising HDL, the “good” cholesterol.

According to Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs, statins are among the most widely prescribed medicines in the world.[ref1} They are used to treat high cholesterol and heart disease. Their use has increased sharply in recent years. Between 10% and 15% of people aged 20 and older in the U.S. now take a statin, and 1 in 4 people age 65 and older do. They are also very expensive … and they’re not without risk. “These new lipid drugs continue to be expensive,” says Dr. Francis Solano Jr., president and chief medical officer of Community Medicine Inc. in Pittsburgh. “Statins can be around $60 to $130 per month.” 2

How do statins work?

Statins all work by the same mechanism: they inhibit a liver enzyme called HMG CoA reductase that enables the liver to make cholesterol. The liver is the body’s main source of cholesterol. But when the liver can not make its own, it removes cholesterol from the blood to fulfill your body’s other needs for cholesterol. Ideally, blood levels of cholesterol decrease, which reduces the tendency for arteries to become clogged with fatty deposits. However, liver damage is not unheard of with the use of statins and before a doctor can prescribe a statin drug the patient needs to have a blood test to check for proper liver function.

Statin side effects

Statins and other cholesterol-lowering drugs, like most pharmaceuticals, can result in serious side effects. In a clinical advisory issued a few years ago, the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute warned doctors about possible serious adverse effects and factors that could increase the risk of statin caused muscle disorders known as myopathies.

Myopathies range from mild muscle pains called myalgias, to a severe condition called rhabdomyolysis, which can be life threatening. But here again, the drug companies’ clinical trial results differ from what doctors are finding in real patients in the real world. While the clinical trials suggest myalgia to occur in 1 to 5 percent of the people taking statins, Mayo Clinic cardiologist Dr. Gerald Gau has stated “in my office, I would guess, it’s closer to 10 percent to 15 percent of patients, maybe more.” 3

Now if you extrapolate those percentages to the 13.1 million statin prescriptions written per month here in the United States4, then you have nearly 2 million people walking around with unnecessary myalgia muscle pain caused by statin drugs!

 Other symptoms and side effects vary depending on what type of cholesterol drug is being taken, for more statin side effects see side bar The Side Effects of Statins.

What’s wrong with this picture?

Consider this metaphor: You’re flying an airplane and one of the gauges indicates that the airplane is going down rapidly and that you’re going to plunge to the ground in minutes. You pull out your handgun and shoot the gauge, destroying not only the gauge but causing damage to other electrical equipment. There! Problem solved, right? Obviously not.

The situation with statin drugs is strikingly similar yet apparently this isn’t obvious to the conventional medical system. Cholesterol is just a risk factor, one of many. Sure, you’d like to see that high reading come down, but—and here is the most important message of this article—you want that reading to come down for the right reasons. You want your cholesterol to come down as a result of an overall improvement in your health.

And here is where policosanol comes in … it is a safe, natural substance that improves overall health … and cholesterol readings!

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Editor's Note:

The natural health solutions described in this article are available through many on-line retailers including those listed below. By clicking these links you help support the important alternative health research we provide.

Visit www.amazon.com – a great way to find competitive deals on supplements offered by many different manufacturers.

Visit www.hfn-usa.com – when commitment to quality and freshness is important, this factory direct solution is preferred by many of our readers.

This article is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Always consult with a physician before embarking on a dietary supplement program.

References

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  2. abcnews.go.com/sections./living/ DailyNews/zetia021029.html.

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  3. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/statin-drugs/CL00035.

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  4. Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs, 2006.

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  5. Menendez R, Amor AM, Rodeiro I, et al. Policosanol modulates HMG-CoA reductase activity in cultured fibroblasts. Arch Med Res 2001 Jan-Feb;32(1):8-12.

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