You Can Lower Cholesterol and Prevent Repeat Heart Attacks With Red Yeast Rice

Recently there have been several studies done that show the benefits of red yeast rice. These benefits include being able to lower cholesterol levels as well as prevent repeat heart attacks. This is particularly good news for those people that can not take statin drugs. It is estimated that about 15% of patients that are put on statin drugs to lower cholesterol stop taking them due to side effects. The most common one being muscle pain. This leaves this population with no effective cholesterol treatment.

Red yeast rice is produced from cultivating M purpureus on polished rice. The fully cultured rice can be sold in the form of a powder, a paste or as a dried grain. China is the world's largest producer of red yeast rice. It has been used for centuries in that country as a spice. This is what gives Peking duck the red color that you see. In addition to its culinary uses, it is documented that as far back as the Tang Dynasty that red yeast rice has been used in tradition Chinese medicine. It was used to invigorate the body, aid in the digestive process and remove "blood blockages".

In one study done on patients that had heart attacks showed a 45% reduction in subsequent attacks. It also concluded that mortality rates and the need for by-pass surgery were reduced by a third. The study was a multi-center, randomized, double blind study conducted on 5,000 patients at 60 hospitals ranging from age 18 to 70 over a 5 year period in the Peoples Republic of China. Researchers of this study were quoted as saying, "It's very exciting because this is a natural product and had very few adverse side effects including no abnormal blood changes".

In another study done by the University of Tromso in Norway, Shanghai University of Traditional Medicine and Beijing University of Chinese Medicine conducted a meta-analysis of 93 randomized studies that tested the effectiveness of 3 different red yeast rice preparations. They were trying to access the effectiveness in treating hyperlipidemia, which is a condition where patients have an abnormally high concentration of lipids (fats) in the blood. This is a very serious condition for people having it. They found that all three preparations significantly reduced total blood cholesterol as well as triglyceride and LDL (bad) cholesterol levels. At the same time it increased HDL or good cholesterol.

This study also concluded that all three preparations were as effective in lowering cholesterol levels as popular statin drugs such as Lipitor, Zocor and Mevacor. In addition they did this without the negative side effects such as muscle pain, liver damage and sexual dysfunction that are associated with statin drugs. The side effects of all three preparations seemed to be dizziness and some gastrointestinal discomfort. These side effects are much more tolerable for patients than those caused by statins.

Most recently two Philadelphia Cardiologists studied the effects of some over-the-counter dietary supplements found in health food stores and pharmacies as an alternative to treating patients with high cholesterol that could not take statin drugs. They published the findings of there study "Red Yeast Rice for Dyslipidemia in Statin-Intolerant Patients", in the June 16, 2009 edition of Annals of Internal Medicine".

According to Dr. Becker, one of the authors, "Every physician has patients who refuse to take statins or have significant side effects from them". And he goes on to say "One of the largest challenges in the medical community has been that there is no agreement or consensus on how to treat these patients. We are convinced that our research may lead to some answers."

The conclusions of their study showed that:

* LDL or bad cholesterol levels decreased more in patients taking red yeast rice than it did in patients not taking it.
* Total cholesterol levels improved more in patients taking red yeast rice than in those taking the placebo.

This study has added significance because it was funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania rather than the pharmaceutical companies with there commercial interests in mind.