Red Yeast Rice Instead of Statin

Red yeast rice may be the newest supplement to provide alternative treatment to patients who cannot tolerate therapeutic doses of statin.

Red yeast rice is produced when yeast is grown on rice – red yeast rice has been used in China for more than a millennium as both food and medicine.

Statin doses can cause muscle pains and can cause elevated liver enzymes, gastrointestinal symptoms and other severe side effects.
A study in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that red yeast rice had a significant cholesterol lowering effect in a small group of people.

In this study, 62 patients with dyslipidemia and a history of stopping statin therapy due to muscle pain were randomized to receive 1800 mg of red yeast rice twice daily for 24 weeks and half to placebo.

All of them were concurrently enrolled in a 12-week therapeutic lifestyle-change program that included eating a Mediterranean-based diet, an exercise program, and relaxation techniques.

Those who received the red yeast rice supplement had significantly greater reductions in LDL cholesterol.
Before red yeast rice becomes the norm for cholesterol lowering, it should be investigated further by the FDA.