Statin therapy has revolutionized the treatment of cardiovascular
disease, but not all patients can take the appropriate level of statins because of their side effects. The present invention provides compositions that provide potent
cholesterol lowering while minimizing the damaging side effects to liver, muscles, and neurons, and has the added benefit of reducing chronic
systemic inflammation, which is an independent
determinant of cardiovascular
disease and all-cause mortality. The current invention presents pharmaceutical compositions for reducing
cholesterol and chronic
systemic inflammation comprising therapeutically effective amounts of: at least one lipid-lowering agent chosen from HMG-CoA
reductase inhibitors, high-
dose controlled-release
niacin,
red yeast rice, or
policosanol; and at least one antiinflammatory
natural product chosen from alpha-
lipoic acid and
corosolic acid. To those in need of such treatment, the current invention also provides safe methods for reducing
high serum cholesterol or chronic
inflammation, or for simultaneously reducing both cholesterol and chronic
inflammation via treatment with therapeutically effective daily doses of pharmaceutical compositions as described herein. The present invention provides mammals with compositions and methods for concurrently reducing cholesterol and
inflammation as a prevention or treatment for many age-related diseases and disorders.