Guggulipid: elixir from ancient India

Guggulipid derived from Guggul resin, is a highly valued botanical medicine in the Ayurvedic system of medicine. Gugulipid is one of the natural remedies known to Ayurveda for lowering blood cholesterol levels and triglycerides. A large body of evidence has established that this natural cholesterol lowering substance is safer and more effective than many cholesterol lowering drugs. Further, guggulipid has been traditionally used alone or combined with other herbs for the treatment of a variety of other ailments including rheumatism, arthritis, skin disease, pains in the nervous system, obesity and urinary disorders 

The classic Ayurvedic medicinal text (600 B.C.), the Sushruta samhita, describes in detail the usefulness of guggul resin/gum in the treatment of obesity and other disorders of fats, including “coating and obstruction of channels. Inspired by this ayurvedic text, an Indian scientist Dr. G.V Satyavati found a strong analogy between modern knowledge of atherosclerosis and the ancient concept of medoroga described by Sushruta. Dr. Satyavati’s studies on  guggulipid was first reported in 1996 in her doctoral thesis. A large body of evidence followed establishing the effectiveness of gugulipid in treating disorders of lipid metabolism-specifically its ability to lower cholesterol and triglycerides levels and promote weight loss. It was shown in human clinical trials using gugulipid, cholesterol levels typically dropped 14 to 27 percent in 4 to 12 week period while triglyceride levels dropped from 22 to 30 percent. Gugulipid is widely used in India as a lipid lowering medicine. 

 Guggulipid is derived from the mukul myrrh tree (Commiphora mukul) a small thorny tree native to Arabia and India. This Commiphora tree is common in northern India and is also infrequently found from northern Africa to central Asia. It prefers arid and semi-arid climates and can acclimate to poor soil. The mukul myrrh gives off a sticky resin, which is processed to obtain the extract. Several ketonic steroid compounds have been isolated from this resin. Two of the compounds, Z-guggulsterone and E-guggulsterone are primarily responsible for the lipid lowering activity. Guggulipid lowers very low -density (VLDL) cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol while simultaneously elevating high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol thus protecting the heart against heart disease. In addition to lowering lipid levels gugulipid prevents the development of atherosclerosis and aid in the regression of preexisting atherosclerotic plaques in animals. This implies that it may have similar effects in humans. Guggulipid prevent the heart from being damaged by free radical and improve the metabolism of the heart. The primary mechanism of cholesterol lowering action by gugulipid is the stimulation of liver metabolism of LDL cholesterol. Guggulsterone increases the uptake of LDL cholesterol from the blood by the liver. Another action of gugulipid is it ability to stimulate thyroid function. This thyroid stimulating effect may be responsible for some of gugulipid’s weight loss activity. Further, guggulsterone exhibits significant anti-inflammatory action in experimental model of inflammation. 

A standardized extract of gugulipid containing a minimum of 50 gm of guggulsterones per gram is regarded as the most beneficial in terms of safety and effectiveness. Clinical studies demonstrate that 25 milligrams of guggulsterone three times per day is an effective treatment for elevated cholesterol levels, elevated triglyceride levels or both. Regarding safety, in clinical studies gugulipid has not displayed any untoward side effects. It has been referenced that Guggulipid should not be taken by pregnant or nursing women. Guggulipid may have estrogen like effects and should not be taken by anyone with a history or family history of hormone related cancers, including prostrate, breast or ovarian cancer. In addition gugulipid may interact with anticoagulants, blood thinners, birth control pills and herbs that have estrogen like effects (such as black cohosh, licorice, soy and others).

Why nutritional or complementary medicine?

About 2,500 years ago, Hippocrates regarded food as a primary form of medicine, his famous dictum was “Let your food be your medicine and let your medicine be your food”. Diet has also been an integral element of Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine since their inception thousands of years ago. Unfortunately, today the importance of diet and overall nutrition is often overlooked by conventional medicine. Further very few physicians receive any education about nutrition during their medical training. Dr. Carolyn Dean, a nutritional medicine doctor from the United States says that “doctors generally do not learn about nutrition or nutrient supplementation in medical school because they are studying the disease, not wellness”. To make things worse, pharmaceutical companies are only interested in patentable drugs and not natural therapies that provide little profit. Thus sadly, the average doctor today despite having taken the Hippocratic oath still rejects the Hippocrates dictum. 

Mainstream medicine’s common advice to us is often that nutrients have no inherent power to treat or prevent disease and that we don’t need to make a special effort to obtain these substances for our bodies. Our body is built using nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids and essential fatty acids. Would it not be but natural that these elements could heal the body as well? Complementary or nutritional medicine precisely takes this point into consideration. Nutritional medicine involves the use of a diet of healthy foods matched to patient’s biochemical individuality along with the proper and correct use of nutrient supplements to help maintain optimal physical and psychological health. While a shift to a healthier diet can improve health in itself, it is important to take nutritional supplementation. Our soil is routinely depleted of nutrients due to a variety of reasons. Modern agricultural practices such as using inorganic fertilizers, pesticides, over farming and acid rains cause the soil to be depleted of vital nutrients. Iodine deficient soils lead to goiter epidemic, zinc deficient soil lead to stunted growth and poor immune system, selenium deficient soil leads to premature aging. 

Dr. Robert Atkins a champion of complementary and nutritional therapy states several interesting case studies. One of Dr. Atkins patient, eleven year old Marie Speller was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. Main stream doctors in such a case are traditionally taught that juvenile diabetes carries with it a life long sentence of requiring insulin. However Dr. Atkins treated Marie with calcium AEP along with other supplements and restored her to normal health within six months of therapy. Calcium AEP supplement given during the first year of illness of juvenile diabetes often reverses the disease completely wherein the patient no longer has to take insulin. To give another example, heart disease, the number one killer, arises in large part from atherosclerosis. Conventional medicine identifies cholesterol as a culprit and very often patient are put on cholesterol lowering drugs. These drugs do lower the cholesterol content but they also lower a vital nutrient called co-enzyme Q10. As a result many of these patients die sooner from causes other than heart disease if they take these medications than if they aren’t treated at all. However nothing is more effective in lowering cholesterol than pantethine, a derivative of the B-complex nutrient pantothenic acid. Pantethine has been shown in several case studies to lower triglycerides, LDL and total cholesterol while increasing the good cholesterol HDL. But one would seldom find any information about pantethine in a standard cardiovascular text books. 

In conclusion nutrients are enablers in that they give the body a chance to do what it needs to do by facilitating a natural physiological process, thus causing the body to function better. Usually the impact isn’t immediate as nutrients perform best over the long term. In contrast, drugs are helpful in controlling acute situations but become problematic when used long term as drugs are disablers or blocking agents. Drugs work by preventing a normal process from taking place, usually an enzyme performing a vital function. For drugs to work there must be a disease, only in this diseased condition can one hope to benefit from blocking an essential life function.