[ScarletBloom]

I found a couple of local web sites and now have PM and Reishi on the way.

Don't know anything about beta-sitosterol, so I'll wait for more information to surface before trying that.

As for Life Extension, wrong country

[Candace]

Reishi did nothing for "quality of life scores, peak urinary flow, mean urinary flow, residual urine, prostate volume, serum prostate-specific antigen or testosterone levels." Beta sitosterol, on the other hand, decreases International Prostate Symptom Score (5.3 points vs placebo compared to reishi's 1.18 points vs placebo), increases peak urinary flow, and decreases residual urine. Reishi may look good in a test tube, but its half-life in the body is short so it's only going to be good for things like flipping gene switches or activating the immune system. Beta-sitosterol sticks around for days so it's perfect for enzyme inhibition.

[Huggy]

Reishi did nothing for "quality of life scores, peak urinary flow, mean urinary flow, residual urine, prostate volume, serum prostate-specific antigen or testosterone levels." Beta sitosterol, on the other hand, decreases International Prostate Symptom Score (5.3 points vs placebo compared to reishi's 1.18 points vs placebo), increases peak urinary flow, and decreases residual urine. Reishi may look good in a test tube, but its half-life in the body is short so it's only going to be good for things like flipping gene switches or activating the immune system. Beta-sitosterol sticks around for days so it's perfect for enzyme inhibition.

Thanks for the link. Seems like I have something else to look into now :-)

[Lotus]

Reishi did nothing for "quality of life scores, peak urinary flow, mean urinary flow, residual urine, prostate volume, serum prostate-specific antigen or testosterone levels." Beta sitosterol, on the other hand, decreases International Prostate Symptom Score (5.3 points vs placebo compared to reishi's 1.18 points vs placebo), increases peak urinary flow, and decreases residual urine. Reishi may look good in a test tube, but its half-life in the body is short so it's only going to be good for things like flipping gene switches or activating the immune system. Beta-sitosterol sticks around for days so it's perfect for enzyme inhibition.

Thanks for the link. Seems like I have something else to look into now :-)

I'd be careful with β-sitosterol,

Plasma sitosterol elevations are associated with an increased incidence of coronary events in men: results of a nested case-control analysis of the Prospective Cardiovascular Münster (PROCAM) study.
Assmann G1, Cullen P, Erbey J, Ramey DR, Kannenberg F, Schulte H.
Author information
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND AIM:
Sitosterolemia, a rare genetic disorder characterized by profoundly elevated plasma sitosterol concentrations, is associated with premature atherosclerosis in some individuals. This study was conducted to evaluate if the modest sitosterol elevations seen in the general population are also associated with the occurrence of coronary events.
METHODS AND RESULTS:
A nested case-control study using stored samples from male participants in the Prospective Cardiovascular Münster (PROCAM) study was performed. Each of 159 men who suffered a myocardial infarction or sudden coronary death (major coronary event) within 10 years of follow-up in PROCAM was matched with 2 controls (N = 318) by age, smoking status, and date of investigation. Analysis was performed using conditional logistic regression. Plasma sitosterol concentrations were elevated in cases compared with controls (4.94 +/- 3.44 micromol/L versus 4.27 +/- 2.38 micromol/L; P = 0.028). The upper quartile of sitosterol (>5.25 micromol/L) was associated with a 1.8-fold increase in risk (P < 0.05) compared with the lower three quartiles. Among men with an absolute coronary risk > or = 20% in 10 years as calculated using the PROCAM algorithm, high sitosterol concentrations were associated with an additional 3-fold increase in the incidence of coronary events (P = 0.032); a similar, significant relationship was observed between a high sitosterol/cholesterol ratio and coronary risk (P = 0.030).
CONCLUSIONS:
Elevations in sitosterol concentrations and the sitosterol/cholesterol ratio appear to be associated with an increased occurrence of major coronary events in men at high global risk of coronary heart disease. Further evaluations are warranted to confirm these preliminary findings.

[Candace]

Nice find! Doses to get you into the danger range are like those used to lower cholesterol: 1.5-3 g/day. DHT lowering happens at 60 mg/day, so it's prudent to stick to low-dose supplements and not mess with fortified foods.

Other studies find either no effect or a beneficial effect from sitosterol. To further muddy the waters it's hard to tell if sitosterol elevation is from elevated consumption or elevated absorption. Since sitosterol and cholesterol are absorbed the same way, if elevated sitosterol is from elevated absorption, then cholesterol absorption is also going to be elevated, so the sitosterol could just be an innocent marker. You can look at sitosterol/cholesterol ratios, but in this case it's hard to tell if an elevated ratio is from high sitosterol consumption or from low cholesterol synthesis. The studies I linked to above disagree about which is harmful and which is beneficial: absorbed or synthesized cholesterol.