Progress in the studies on effective components of Chinese medicine in the treatment of hyperlipidemia

Currently the incidence of hyperlipidemia is significantly increasing and the age of onset is younger. Lipid regulating drugs can adjust and improve the lipid metabolism. More and more people are favor of the chemical drugs used for treating hyperlipidemia because of its rapid onset and positive efficacy. But the chemical drugs have side effects of different levels. Through the study we find that some elements of traditional Chinese medicine have positive, continuous effect, less side effects, show the unique advantages in treating hyperlipidemia and preventing the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. The effective component of Chinese medicine of treating hyperlipidemia involves more than 30 kinds of compounds. In this paper compounds of polysaccharides, flavonoids, saponins, alkaloids, phenols, fatty acids are reviewed.