Health effects cholesterol-lowering properties

Octacosanol has many potential uses for various health concerns. The most widely studied to date are its cholesterol-lowering properties and exerdse performance effects. The studies presented thus far have supported the potential octacosanol has in benefiting human health with regard to cholesterol lowering and platelet antiaggregation. Additionally, it has the potential to treat these health conditions without the major side effects often associated with currently marketed drugs. Thus,... 

Other soluble fiber-containing products have been shown to lower blood cholesterol. Recent extensive studies on psyllium (Plantago ovata) presented both as a pharmaceutical preparation and as a food product (a ready to eat breakfast cereal) have shown blood cholesterol-lowering properties where the dose-effect relationship is such that a useful additional therapeutically meaningful lipid-lowering effect can be achieved by prescribing a daily portion of psyllium-fortified breakfast cereal. Products of this type are now marketed in the US and Australia, and the US FDA has now allowed a food specific health claim for psyllium. 

While only small amounts of octacosanol are ingested in the diet, many health benefits have surfaced, in part due to researehers developing octacosanol in a supplement form. Most studies to date have used a wheat germ oil extract or policosanol, a namral tnixmre of primary alcohols isolated from sugar cane wax, of which octacosanol is the primary component. Oetaeosanol has the potential to benefit human health in many areas, in particular exercise performance, platelet aggregation, and plasma cholesterol levels. Of the potential health benefits associated with octacosanol, its ergogenic properties and cholesterol-lowering effects have bear the most studied. 

---