What is it?

This supplement comes in a powder form made from cooked rice on which red yeast has been grown.  It has been used for thousands of years in China.  Western pharmaceutical companies have used one of the active ingredients, monaclonin K, as the basis of modern cholesterol lowering drugs.[i] [ii]

How Much Does it Lower Cholesterol?

In most people 2400mg of standardized red yeast rice lowers cholesterol as follows:

How does it compare to drug therapy?

It is interesting to note that drugs using monaclonin K (lovastatin, for example) contain dosages many times higher than a dose of red yeast rice.  Yet when compared side by side red yeast rice works as well to lower cholesterol and is a fraction of the cost!  A study comparing red yeast rice to Pravastatin (a cholesterol lowering drug) found that at twelve weeks the red yeast rice was almost twice as effective! [iii]  The efficacy of the supplement at such a low dose has led researchers to believe that there are other active constituents in red yeast rice. ^{i ii iii} [iv] [v] [vi]

If you’ve read my Cholesterol Article, you know there is much more to heart disease than high cholesterol—oxidation and inflammation play bigger roles than cholesterol levels alone.  For that reason it is important to look at not only the cholesterol lowering effects of red yeast rice, but at how much red yeast rice actually decreases risk of heart attack.  A newer study did just that.  In 2008 the study was published in the American Journal of Cardiology found a 50% reduction in heart attacks among a group given red yeast rice.  The authors concluded that the product outperformed statins in preventing heart disease—and with no side-effects in the study.[vii]  That becomes very important considering the high level of side effects involved in most statin trials.  In many trials of statin drugs more people die in the study group than in the placebo group! (read my Cholesterol Article for more on that topic).

Like policosanol red yeast rice decreases the oxidation of cholesterol.  This is important since oxidized LDL cholesterol has been implicated in the formation of and rupture of atherosclerotic plaques.
 

What else is it good for?

Red yeast rice possesses powerful antioxidant capabilities and has been shown in animal studies to dramatically reduce the rates of certain types of cancers. [viii] [ix]More research needs to be done in this area to find out what effect the supplement may have in human cancers.

 Are there any side effects or drug interactions?

The available research indicates that red yeast rice is very safe to use short term at the recommended dosages.  Studies monitoring liver function found no change with use of the supplement (one study using very high levels found a small, but acceptable, increase in liver enzymes in one subject [x]).  Since red yeast rice does inhibit cholesterol synthesis in the liver in a similar fashion to drugs that have been known to reach toxic levels, it is wise to monitor liver function with blood tests during prolonged supplementation.  This supplement should be used under supervision of a nutritionally minded doctor.   If you are taking red yeast rice you should also take CoQ10--this is a naturally occurring enzyme in your body that is very important--it is depleted by chronic red yeast rice use.  I suggest taking 50-300mg of CoQ10 per day with your  red yeast rice.

Grapefruit juice should be avoided during supplementation since it has been known to increase blood levels of cholesterol lowering drugs.

References: