Policosanol: A Rival To Statins, Without The Side Effects?
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Policosanol (which can be extracted from various sources, but is mostly made from sugar cane extract) is marketed as lipid-lowering agent for improving cholesterol levels, but its research history has not been without controversy:
2001: it works!
After a lot of research in the 1990s, it came out of the gate strong in 2001, with:
❝Policosanol (5 and 10 mg/day) significantly decreased LDL-cholesterol (17.3% and 26.7%, respectively), total cholesterol (12.9% and 19.5%), as well as the ratios of LDL-cholesterol to high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol (17.2% and 26.5%) and total cholesterol to HDL-cholesterol (16.3% and 21.0%) compared with baseline and placebo❞
This, by the way, is comparable in efficacy to the most powerful statins, but without the adverse side effects.
Source: Efficacy and tolerability of policosanol in hypercholesterolemic postmenopausal women
Furthermore, its effects were not limited to postmenopausal women, and additionally, it was found that 20mg/day was sufficient for optimal effects; 40mg worked exactly the same as 20mg:
2006–2010: we do not trust the Cubans!
After it had been marketed and used in much of the world for some years, extra scrutiny was brought upon it, because the initial studies had been performed by the same lab in Cuba, a commercial lab that had tested them for a private interest (i.e., a company selling the supplement):
Heart Beat: Policosanol: A sweet nothing for high cholesterol
And furthermore, US-based labs were unable to replicate the results:
Policosanols as Nutraceuticals: Fact or Fiction
The Cuban researchers countered that the composition of policosanol as produced in their lab was different than the composition of the policosanol as produced in the US labs, because of the purity of the ingredients used in the Cuban lab.
Which, on the face of it, could be true or could just be the claim of a commercial lab with an association with a company selling a product.
Of course, importing Cuban ingredients to test them in the US was not a reasonably accessible option for the US-based labs, because of the US’s embargo of Cuba. In principle it could be done, but unless there is already a huge clear profit incentive, research scientists are usually on their hands and knees begging for grants already, so getting extra funding for specially-important Cuban ingredients was not going to be likely.
2012: never mind, it does work after all!
An American meta-analysis of 4596 patients from 52 eligible studies (from around the world, so many of them not affected by the US’s embargo; some were from within the US using non-Cuban ingredients, though), found:
❝policosanol is more effective than plant sterols and stanols for LDL level reduction and more favorably alters the lipid profile, approaching antilipemic drug efficacy❞
Those last words there, to be clear, mean “yes, the original claim of being on a par with statins is at least more or less true”.
Source: Meta-Analysis of Natural Therapies for Hyperlipidemia: Plant Sterols and Stanols versus Policosanol
2018: also yes, the Cuban kind does get those extra-effective results, even when tested outside of Cuba
A Korean research team verified this; it’s quite straightforward so for brevity we’ll just drop links:
- Consumption of Cuban Policosanol Improves Blood Pressure and Lipid Profile via Enhancement of HDL Functionality in Healthy Women Subjects: Randomized, Double-Blinded, and Placebo-Controlled Study
- Long-Term Consumption of Cuban Policosanol Lowers Central and Brachial Blood Pressure and Improves Lipid Profile With Enhancement of Lipoprotein Properties in Healthy Korean Participants
Mystery resolved!
Want to try some?
We don’t sell it, but here for your convenience is an example product on Amazon—it’s not the Cuban kind, because the US’s trade embargo makes it difficult for the US to import even things that are theoretically now exempt from the embargo such as food and medicines. In principle they can now be imported, but in practice, the extra regulations added to Cuban imports make it nearly impossible, especially for small sellers.
Still, it’s 40mg/tablet policosanol from sugar cane extract, and 3rd party lab tested, so it’s the next best thing 😎
Enjoy!
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Superfood Broccoli Pesto
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Cruciferous vegetables have many health benefits of their own (especially: a lot of anticancer benefits). But, it can be hard to include them in every day’s menu, so this is just one more way that’ll broaden your options! It’s delicious mixed into pasta, or served as a dip, or even on toast.
You will need
- 4 cups small broccoli florets
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves
- ½ cup pine nuts
- ¼ bulb garlic
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp black pepper, coarse ground
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- ½ tsp MSG or 1 tsp low-sodium salt
Method
(we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)
1) Steam the broccoli for 3–5 minutes. Allow to cool.
2) Blend the pine nuts, garlic, lemon juice, and nutritional yeast.
3) Add the broccoli, basil, olive oil, black pepper, red pepper, and MSG or salt, and blend in the food processor again until well-combined.
4) Serve:
Enjoy!
Want to learn more?
For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:
- Broccoli vs Cauliflower – Which is Healthier?
- Level-Up Your Fiber Intake! (Without Difficulty Or Discomfort)
- Herbs for (Evidence-Based) Health & Healing ← Basil features here! It’s easy to think that medicinal herbs have to be some kind of arcane obscurity, but it’s often not so.
- Our Top 5 Spices: How Much Is Enough For Benefits? ← Black pepper, red pepper, and garlic all feature here
- All About Olive Oil: Is “Extra Virgin” Worth It?
- Monosodium Glutamate: Sinless Flavor-Enhancer Or Terrible Health Risk?
Take care!
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Coconut & Lemongrass Protein Soup
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
The main protein here is pea protein, but the soup’s health benefits don’t stop there. With healthy MCTs from the coconut, as well as phytochemical benefits from the ginger and chili, this wonderfully refreshing soup has a lot to offer.
You will need
- 1 can coconut milk
- 1 cup vegetable stock (making your own, or buying a low-sodium option)
- 1 cup frozen petits pois
- 1 oz fresh ginger, roughly chopped
- ½ oz lemongrass stalk, crumpled without being broken into multiple pieces
- 1 red chili, roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp white miso paste
- zest and juice of 1 lime
- Optional: garnish of your choice
Method
(we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)
1) Mix the coconut milk, vegetable stock, ginger, and chili in a saucepan, and simmer for 15 minutes
2) Remove the lemongrass and ginger (and the chili if you don’t want more heat), and add the petit pois. Bring back to a simmer for about 2 minutes more, stir in the miso paste and lime, then take off the heat.
3) Blend the soup to a smooth purée. Since it is hot, you will need to either use a stick blender, or else a food processor that is ok with blending hot liquids (many are not, so don’t use yours unless you’re sure, as it might explode if it’s not made for that). Alternatively, you can let it cool, blend it, and then reheat it.
4) Serve, adding a garnish if you so wish:
Enjoy!
Want to learn more?
For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:
- Can Saturated Fats Be Healthy?
- Ginger Does A Lot More Than You Think
- Capsaicin For Weight Loss And Against Inflammation
Take care!
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Avoiding/Managing Osteoarthritis
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Avoiding/Managing Osteoarthritis
Arthritis is the umbrella term for a cluster of joint diseases involving inflammation of the joints, hence “arthr-” (joint) “-itis” (suffix used to denote inflammation).
Inflammatory vs Non-Inflammatory Arthritis
Arthritis is broadly divided into inflammatory arthritis and non-inflammatory arthritis.
Some forms, such as rheumatoid arthritis, are of the inflammatory kind. We wrote about that previously:
See: Avoiding/Managing Rheumatoid Arthritis
You may be wondering: how does one get non-inflammatory inflammation of the joints?
The answer is, in “non-inflammatory” arthritis, such as osteoarthritis, the damage comes first (by general wear-and-tear) and inflammation generally follows as part of the symptoms, rather than the cause.
So the name can be a little confusing. In the case of osteo- and other “non-inflammatory” forms of arthritis, you definitely still want to keep your inflammation at bay as best you can; it’s just not the prime focus.
So, what should we focus on?
First and foremost: avoiding wear-and-tear if possible. Naturally, we all must live our lives, and sometimes that means taking a few knocks, and definitely it means using our joints. An unused joint would suffer just as much as an abused one. But, we can take care of our joints!
We wrote on that previously, too:
See: How To Really Look After Your Joints
New osteoarthritis medication (hot off the press!)
At 10almonds, we try to keep on top of new developments, and here’s a shiny new one from this month:
- Methotrexate to treat hand osteoarthritis with synovitis (12th Oct, clinical trial)
- New research has found an existing drug could help many people with painful hand osteoarthritis (24th Oct, pop-science article about the above, but still written by one of the study authors!)
Note also that Dr. Flavia Cicuttini there talks about what we talked about above—that calling it non-inflammatory arthritis is a little misleading, as the inflammation still occurs.
And finally…
You might consider other lifestyle adjustments to manage your symptoms. These include:
- Exercise—gently, though!
- Rest—while keeping mobility going.
- Mobility aids—if it helps, it helps.
- Go easy on the use of braces, splints, etc—these can offer short-term relief, but at a long term cost of loss of mobility.
- Only you can decide where to draw the line when it comes to that trade-off.
You can also check out our previous article:
See: Managing Chronic Pain (Realistically!)
Take good care of yourself!
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The Alzheimer’s Gene That Varies By Race & Sex
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The Alzheimer’s Gene That Varies By Race & Sex
You probably know that there are important genetic factors that increase or decrease Alzheimer’s Risk. If you’d like a quick refresher before we carry on, here are two previous articles on this topic:
- Genetic Testing: Health Benefits & Methods (about personal genomics and health, including Alzheimer’s)
- The Surprising Link Between Type 2 Diabetes & Alzheimer’s (about the APOE-ε4 allele that is implicated in both)
A Tale of Two Alleles
It has generally been understood that APOE-ε2 lowers Alzheimer’s disease risk, and APOE-ε4 increases it.
However, for reasons beyond the scope of this article, research populations for genetic testing are overwhelmingly white. If you, dear reader, are white, you may be thinking “well, I’m white, so this isn’t a problem for me”, you might still want to read on…
An extensive new study, published days ago, by Dr. Belloy et al., looked at how these correlations held out per race and sex. They found:
- The “APOE-ε2 lowers; APOE-ε4 increases” dictum held out strongest for white people.
- In the case of Hispanic people, there was only a small correlation on the APOE-ε4 side of things, and none on the APOE-ε2 side of things per se.
- East Asians also saw no correlation with regard to APOE-ε2 per se.
- But! Hispanic and East Asian people had a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s if and only if they had both APOE-ε2 and APOE-ε4.
- Black people, meanwhile, saw a slight correlation with regard to the protective effect of APOE-ε2, and as for APOE-ε4, if they had any European ancestry, increased European ancestry meant a higher increased risk factor if they had APOE-ε4. African ancestry, on the other hand, had a protective effect, proportional to the overall amount of that ancestry.
And as for sex…
- Specifically for white people with the APOE-ε3/ε4 genotype, especially in the age range of 60–70, the genetic risk for Alzheimer’s was highest in women.
If you’d like to read more and examine the data for yourself:
APOE Genotype and Alzheimer Disease Risk Across Age, Sex, and Population Ancestry
Want to reduce your Alzheimer’s risk?
We have just the thing for you:
How To Reduce Your Alzheimer’s Risk: It’s Never Too Early To Do These 11 Things
Take care!
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25 Healthy Habits That Will Change Your Life
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Cori Lefkowith, of “Redefining Strength” and “Strong At Every Age” fame, has compiled a list of the simple habits that make a big difference, and here they are!
The Tips
Her recommendations include…
- The healthy activities you’re most prone to skipping? Do those first
- Create staple meals… Consciously! This means: instead of getting into a rut of cooking the same few things in rotation because it’s what you have the ingredients in for, consciously and deliberately make a list of at least 7 meals that, between them, constitute a healthy balanced diet, and choose to make them your staples. That doesn’t mean don’t eat anything else (indeed, variety is good!) but having a robust collection of healthy staples to fall back on will help you avoid falling into unhealthy eating traps.
- Schedule time for healthy activities that you love. Instead of thinking “it would be nice to…”, actually figure out a timeslot, plan in advance, making it recurring, and do it!
- Have (healthy!) no-spoil food options always available. No-spoil doesn’t have to mean “won’t spoil ever”, but does mean at least that it has a long shelf-life. Nuts are a good example, assuming you’re not allergic. Sundried fruits are good too; not nearly as good as fresh fruit, but a lot better than some random processed snack because it’s what in. If you eat fish, then see if you can get dried fish in; it’s high in protein and keeps for a very long time indeed.
- Stock up on spices! Not only do they all have great health-giving properties (at least, we can’t think of a refutation by counterexample, Arrakis be damned), but also, they literally spice up our culinary repertoire, and bring joy to cooking and eating healthy food.
If you like these, check out the rest:
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Further reading
For more about actually making habits stick quickly and reliably,enjoy:
How To Really Pick Up (And Keep!) Those Habits
Take care!
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Healthy Choco-Banoffee Ice Cream
10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.
Chocolate, banana, and coffee—quite a threesome, whether for breakfast or dessert, and this is healthy enough for breakfast while being decadent enough for dessert! With no dairy or added sugar, and lots of antioxidants, this is a healthy way to start or end your day.
You will need
- 3 bananas
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder, no additives
- 2 shots espresso, chilled
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- On standby: milk of your choice—we recommend almond or hazelnut
Method
(we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)
1) Peel, slice, and freeze the bananas (let them freeze for at least 2–3 hours)
2) Blend the ingredients, except the milk. Add milk as necessary if the mixture is too thick to blend. Be careful not to add too much at once though, or it will become less of an ice cream and more of a milkshake!
3) Scoop into a sundae glass to serve:
Enjoy!
Want to learn more?
For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:
- Which Plant Milk?
- The Bitter Truth About Coffee (or is it?)
- Cacao vs Carob – Which is Healthier?
- Apples vs Bananas – Which is Healthier?
- Which Sugars Are Healthier, And Which Are Just The Same?
- Tasty Polyphenols
Take care!
Don’t Forget…
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