About Guggul
An Ayurvedic resin (Commiphora mukul) standardized to guggulsterones, marketed for cholesterol. A well-designed US RCT (Szapary 2003, JAMA) found it did not lower LDL and modestly raised it in some subjects, contradicting earlier Indian trials. ⚠️ Guggulsterones induce CYP3A4/PXR and can lower levels of propranolol, diltiazem and oral contraceptives; may increase bleeding risk and have thyroid-hormone-like activity.
What Guggul supports
- Ayurvedic resin marketed for cholesterol (mixed evidence)
How much Guggul to take
The RDA prevents deficiency. The effective range is what clinical trials used to actually move the outcome.
Effective
75–150
mg
Standardized to guggulsterones; trials used ~75-150 mg guggulsterones/day (often from 1-2 g of extract).
Clinical evidence
Limited clinical evidence. Rigorous RCT found no LDL benefit, contradicting earlier trials
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