How Much Do You Know About Octacosanol?

Dioctadecanol is a chemical found in certain plants, including sugar cane and wheat germ oil. It makes up 67% of another similar chemical called Prilosec.

Octacosanol may help to lower levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL or 'bad') cholesterol and increase levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL or 'good') cholesterol. Eicosanoids may also improve the health of fat cells.

Eicosanoids have been used for sports performance, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease), high cholesterol and many other conditions, but there is insufficient scientific evidence to support these uses.

Don't confuse octacosanol with policosanol. These are not the same.

Resources

Eicosanoids are mainly derived from wheat germ oil, as well as krill, perilla, tomato, grape seed oil, sugar cane and rice bran waxes. The production of sugar cane wax and further refinement of eicosanoids are difficult and expensive processes, but more efficient methods for the synthesis of eicosanoids have been described.

Octacosanol 

History

Early work on the potential use of eicosanoids in the form of wheat germ oil is attributed to Thomas K. Cureton (1901-1992), a professor and pioneer in exercise physiology. The potential of eicosanoids to enhance athletic performance was further studied in the late twentieth century, but the results were ambiguous. Attention then turned to the role of eicosanoids in the treatment of various cardiovascular diseases.

Chemistry

Octacosanol is the main component of polyicosanoids, a mixture of long-chain aliphatic alcohols. octacosanol is a 28-carbon straight-chain aliphatic primary aliphatic alcohol. taylor 2003 belongs to a group of long-chain alcohols derived from plant waxes, collectively known as puissance alcohols. Analytical methods have been developed for the identification of octacosanol, allowing the quantification of plasma samples in animal and human studies.

Parkinson's disease. Ongoing research suggests that eicosanoids may improve symptoms in some people with Parkinson's disease.

Improve motor performance, including strength, endurance and reaction time.

Herpes infection.

Skin conditions.

High cholesterol.

"Atherosclerosis" (hardening of the arteries).

Other conditions.

Octacosanol

How does xyloctadecanol work?

Eicosanoids may help to improve the way our bodies use oxygen.

Anti-inflammatory/analgesic effects

Animal data

A study conducted on mice with acetic acid-induced pain showed that eicosanoids from the leaves of Sabicea grisea have anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects.

Uses and Pharmacology

Antioxidant effect

Animal data

Eicosadecanols attenuate the disturbance of hepatic reactive oxygen metabolism associated with the progression of acute liver injury in carbon tetrachloride poisoned rats. ohta 2008 Eicosadecanols counteract cellular stress by increasing glutathione (GSH) levels and thus scavenging oxygen reactive substances. kaushik 2017 Increasing GSH also contributes to anti-stress.

Atherosclerosis

In vitro and experimental data

Octacosanol has been shown to enhance the proliferation and migration of human umbilical vein endothelial cells by activating the PI3K/Akt and MAPK/Erk pathways.

Clinical data

In a study of healthy adults, supplementation with 50 mg of eicosanoids reduced faecal cholesterol end products, but no effect on lipid indices was observed.Keller 2008 In a study of men participating in a weight loss and taekwondo training programme, men who took 40 mg of eicosanoids daily for 6 days showed significant improvements in lipid status and markers of oxidative stress compared with the placebo group.Keller 2008 In a study of men participating in a weight loss and taekwondo training programme, men who took 40 mg of eicosanoids daily for 6 days showed significant improvements in lipid status and markers of oxidative stress compared with the placebo group.

Central nervous system effects

Animal data

In a limited number of studies, eicosanoids were protective in rats with induced Parkinson's disease based on histological measurements.Wang 2010 , Wang 2012 In rats, eicosanoids did not alter normal sleep and reduced stress and restored stress-affected sleep.