Last Updated: 2002-05-02 17:04:19 -0400 (Reuters Health)
By Amy Norton
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Scientists have discovered how a compound derived from tree resin and used for centuries in India helps lower cholesterol.
The plant compound's mode of action is quite different from that of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, the study's lead researcher told Reuters Health. This means that it or other compounds that work similarly could potentially be used in combination with statins or as an alternative to them, according to Dr. David D. Moore, a researcher at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.
"This identifies a completely new way to lower cholesterol," he said.
An extract of the resin is already approved as a cholesterol drug in India, and is widely available in health food stores. Now the new research shows that the extract's active ingredient, guggulsterone, works by blocking a substance that stops the body from getting rid of cholesterol. That allows the body to get rid of more cholesterol. Statins, on the other hand, block the body from making more cholesterol.
Resin from the guggul tree has been used for more than 2,000 years in India to treat a range of disorders. In 1987, an extract of the resin--dubbed gugulipid--won approval as a cholesterol-lowering agent. But exactly how the extract bestows its benefits has been unclear until now.
The findings were published online Thursday in Sciencexpress, the Web edition of the journal Science.
Moore pointed out that his team did find a potential, though unproven, downside of guggulsterone: it also had a "subtle effect" that could decrease the activity of other drugs.
Moore said that this potential side effect is why he stopped taking the resin extract--even though, he noted, a short bout of taking it along with his statin medication lowered his cholesterol even further.
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