In another post the role of Cu/Zn SOD3 in mitigating blood pressure changes was introduced. Cu/Zn SOD3 removes superoxide before it can react with the vasodilating agent nitric oxide. Early studies showed that politicosanol increased the vasodilation in response to the NO releasing agent nitroprusside [1]
A group of Korean investigators became interested in politicosanol, a family of aliphatic alcohols of 24-34 carbons [2]. Policosanol is a byproduct of sugar cane wax. The alcohol ethanol has only two carbons. Dodecanol, also called lauryl alcohol, has only 12 carbons. The idea was to recruit participants who were pre- hypertension and divide them into three groups. Sometimes scientists and medical sorts like to look at the images first. The following are images available to the public from the link associated with reference [2].
Design of study and participants. Inclusion criteria were normolipidemic, normoglycemic, and healthy subjects who had prehypertension (systolic 130–139 mmHg, diastolic 80–89 mmHg). M: Male; F: Female.
In just 8 weeks participants taking 20 mg policosanol daily saw improvements in aortic and peripheral blood pressure. These participants seemed to have lost a little bit of subcutaneous and visceral fat.
The authors speculated that the policosanol lowers blood pressure by increasing the fraction of high density lipo protein (HDL). According the the US CDC HDL is responsible for ferrying excess cholesterol back to the liver where it can be excreted. Indeed, Park and coworkers found an inverse correlation between blood pressure and HDL (see supplemental data of reference [2]). In a previous clinical trial the same group demonstrated that Cuban policosanol inhibited inhibited cholesterol ester transferase protein (CETP). [3]
- Arruzazabala ML, Carbajal D, Más R, Valdés S, Molina V. Pharmacological Interaction Between Policosanol and Nitroprusside in Rats. J Med Food. 2001 Summer;4(2):67-70. doi: 10.1089/109662001300341716. PMID: 12639414.
- Park, H. J., Yadav, D., Jeong, D. J., Kim, S. J., Bae, M. A., Kim, J. R., & Cho, K. H. (2019). Short-Term Consumption of Cuban Policosanol Lowers Aortic and Peripheral Blood Pressure and Ameliorates Serum Lipid Parameters in Healthy Korean Participants: Randomized, Double-Blinded, and Placebo-Controlled Study. International journal of environmental research and public health, 16(5), 809. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16050809 PMC free article
- Kim JY, Kim SM, Kim SJ, Lee EY, Kim JR, Cho KH. Consumption of policosanol enhances HDL functionality via CETP inhibition and reduces blood pressure and visceral fat in young and middle-aged subjects. Int J Mol Med. 2017 Apr;39(4):889-899. doi: 10.3892/ijmm.2017.2907. Epub 2017 Feb 24. PMC free article