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May 3, 2002 -- For centuries in India, the resin of the guggul tree has been used to lower cholesterol. Now, a group of U.S. scientists has unlocked the secret to its cholesterol-lowering ability -- possibly opening the door to new and better drugs.
However, they caution against taking a supplement containing the resin extract -- called guggulipid -- which is found in health food stores. Researchers say it may decrease the effectiveness of other drugs you may be taking, much like St. John's wort.
"The gum resin of the guggul tree has been used in Indian Ayurvedic medicine since at least 600 B.C. to treat a wide variety of ailments, including obesity and disorders," writes study author David D. Moore, PhD, professor of molecular and cell biology at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. His study appears in the May 2 issue of Sciencexpress.
In India, guggulipid has been studied and approved as a cholesterol-lowering medication, and is widely used, according to Moore. In those studies, the extract has been found to lower LDL "bad" cholesterol and triglyceride levels in humans.
"It really does lower cholesterol in a number of clinical studies in the Indian literature," Moore says in a news release.
Western scientists have published only one scientific study of guggulipid, combining it with a cholesterol-lowering diet. While the diet reduced cholesterol by 10%, the addition of guggulipid reduced it by another 10%.
In their study, Moore and colleagues sought to understand how guggulipid works, and found that the extract blocks LDL "bad" cholesterol production.
These findings will likely be key in development of new cholesterol-lowering drugs, says Moore.