Policosanol is a mixture of waxy alcohols made from sugar cane. It is sold as a supplement to lower cholesterol, based mostly on trials from Cuba that reported effects similar to statins.
Also known as: sugar cane policosanol, sugarcane wax alcohols.
A German trial tested 10, 20, 40 and 80 mg a day for 12 weeks (Berthold 2006); a US trial used 20 mg a day for 8 weeks (Dulin 2006). These are study protocols, not a recommendation.
It is sold in the US as a dietary supplement. Under the 1994 dietary supplement law (DSHEA), FDA does not approve dietary supplements before they are marketed, and the maker, not FDA, is responsible for safety and labeling.
What studies show: more than 80 trials, mostly from a single research institute in Cuba, reported cholesterol lowering comparable with statins at 5 to 40 mg a day (Berthold 2006). Independent trials disagree. In a German trial of 143 people with high cholesterol, Cuban sugar cane policosanol at 10 to 80 mg a day for 12 weeks did not lower LDL cholesterol or any other blood fat more than placebo (Berthold 2006). A US trial of 40 adults found no change in LDL or other lipids after 8 weeks of 20 mg a day (Dulin 2006). A 2018 meta-analysis of 22 studies (1,886 people) did find lower total and LDL cholesterol, but the Cuban studies showed larger effects than the rest, results were not dose-related, and the authors said more trials are needed (Gong 2018).
Safety: policosanol was well tolerated without serious adverse events in the German and US trials, and the 2018 meta-analysis found fewer side effects than with the comparison treatments.
We could not find a single published half-life or time to peak for policosanol that applies to a supplement dose, so we do not list one.
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