Alternative Treatments for High Cholesterol

There are many alternative treatments that claim to lower cholesterol. Before you try any, talk to your doctor. Few natural products have been proven in scientific studies to lower cholesterol, but some might be helpful. Either way, it’s important to ask your doctor if a supplement or alternative remedy could affect other medications you're taking or cause side effects.

Are There Any OTC Cholesterol Medications? 

Currently, there are herbal and nutritional supplements that you can buy that may help to lower cholesterol. But there are no medications available for this purpose without a prescription. 

Supplements are products that are meant to be additions to your diet, such as vitamins, minerals, and herbs. They help you to get the right amounts of certain nutrients. Even though they may come in the form of pills, capsules, or liquids, as medicine does, the FDA does not approve them as treatments for disease. 

Drugs are products specifically created to help diagnose, treat, cure, and prevent disease. They can change how your body works. They must meet FDA standards for quality, safety, and effectiveness before they can be sold.

Cholesterol Supplements

Some of the herbal and nutritional supplements that may help lower cholesterol include:

• Garlic: Some studies show that garlic may lower blood levels of total cholesterol by a few percentage points, but only in the short term. Other studies suggest it may not be as helpful as once thought. Garlic may prolong bleeding and blood clotting time, so you shouldn’t take garlic or garlic supplements before surgery or with blood-thinning drugs such as Coumadin.
• Fiber: Taking a supplement to help you get enough daily fiber can help lower your overall cholesterol level and your LDL (bad) cholesterol. Some examples of fiber supplements are psyllium, methylcellulose, wheat dextrin, and calcium polycarbophil. If you take a fiber supplement, increase the amount you take slowly. This can help prevent gas and cramping. It’s also important to drink enough liquids.
• Whey protein: You can get this milk-based protein from dairy products. You can take it as a supplement, too, typically in a powder form that you can add to drinks or soft foods. Studies suggest that whey protein supplements can lower LDL and total cholesterol. If your doctor gives you the go-ahead to try one, choose a supplement that lists whey protein as its only ingredient, so you avoid things like added sugar. Also look for a label on the packaging that says NSF Certified for Sport or certified by Informed Choice, which means the product has been tested for purity.
• Guggulipid: This is the gum resin of the mukul myrrh tree. It has been used in traditional ayurvedic medicine, which originated in India more than 2,000 years ago. In clinical studies done in India, guggulipid lowered blood levels of total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. But most of these studies don’t meet the criteria for scientific validity. Also, enthusiasm for using guggulipid as a cholesterol-lowering herbal agent went down after the publication of negative results from a clinical trial in the U.S. More research is needed to find out how safe and effective this herb is.
• Red yeast rice:Studies show it may help lower cholesterol. At one time, it was an ingredient in the over-the-counter supplement Cholestin. But in 2001, the FDA took Cholestin off the shelf because it contained lovastatin, a compound found in the cholesterol prescription medication Mevacor. Reformulated "Cholestin" no longer has red yeast rice in it. Other supplements in the U.S. that have red yeast rice can contain only very small levels of lovastatin. The FDA does not allow the promotion of red yeast rice for lowering cholesterol.
• Policosanol: Produced from sugar cane, policosanol was found to be effective in lowering LDL cholesterol in several studies. Most policosanol supplements found in the U.S., including the reformulated Cholestin, contain policosanol extracted from beeswax and not the sugar cane policosanol. There is no evidence that policosanol extracted from beeswax can lower cholesterol. More studies on sugar cane policosanol are needed to find out how effective and safe it is for lowering cholesterol.
• Other herbal products: The results of several studies suggest fenugreek seeds and leaves, artichoke leaf extract, yarrow, and holy basil all may help lower cholesterol. These and other commonly used herbs and spices – including ginger, turmeric, and rosemary – are being investigated for their potential beneficial effects relating to coronary disease prevention.