Does Red Yeast Rice Lower Cholesterol Level Safely?

Lower Cholesterol Level Presents:

Does Red Yeast Rice Lower Cholesterol Level Safely?
By Max Wardlow

Does red yeast rice (RYR) lower cholesterol? Is it a safe natural alternative to the commonly prescribed cholesterol lowering drugs?

It has been used since the 7th century A.D. in China as both a food and medicinal nutrient. It has been noted in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) as having the benefits as both a promoter of blood circulation and a digestive stimulant.

It is a by-product of cooked rice on which red yeast has been grown. The rice is then dried, powdered and used medicinally.

Its effectiveness in lowering cholesterol is backed by reliable and consistent scientific data as well as centuries of use in Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Based on a recent study, 62 people with high cholesterol took red yeast rice daily for six months, and the other half of the study participants received identical placebo capsules. They also made changes in eating habits, exercise and other lifestyle adjustments. After three months, the LDL (so-called "bad" cholesterol) levels of those taking the active supplements had declined 27%, compared to 6% in the placebo group.

The participants in this study were unable to continue treatment with prescription cholesterol lowering drugs, due to adverse and possibly dangerous side effects. There were no significant side effects reported while using RYR.

Is Red Yeast Rice Safe?

Those raising safety concerns say that since RYR contains natural statins similar in effect to cholesterol lowering drugs, it's logical that it would have the same risks. This argument is not valid because statins in prescription drugs have been chemically altered in a laboratory, whereas the statins in red yeast rice are naturally occurring.

Detractors often say that RYR is not regulated by the FDA and the supplements on the market vary in quality and may not be safe.

All dietary supplements are regulated by the FDA based on the guidelines of the Dietary Supplement Health Education Act (DSHEA) of 1994. Under DSHEA, supplement companies are responsible for determining that the nutritional supplements they manufacture are safe and that any claims made about them are substantiated by adequate evidence.

Although some critics argue that DSHEA is no regulation or excessively lax regulation, it seems that nutritional supplements are generally safe enough that this legislation does what it's intended to do. Almost never do you hear of dietary supplements causing extreme and/or dangerous side effects or death.

The same cannot be said about the pharmaceutical industry, where drugs that have proven to be dangerous are regularly recalled by the FDA and personal injury law suits are common.

Although acceptance in the mainstream medical community is slow, at this time, there is no solid evidence that red yeast rice is unsafe. Although there is some variation in the quality of nutritional supplements, and under DSHEA, consumers are responsible for locating high quality and safe supplements produced by firms that adhere to agreed upon good manufacturing practices (GMP).

Of course, you may want to consult your health care provider before starting any supplementation program or to have any questions or concerns addressed. Also, it's not recommended that you take red yeast rice if you're also taking prescription cholesterol lowering drugs.

At this time, research and centuries of use in traditional medicine show that the answer to the question, "does red yeast rice lower cholesterol safely?" is "yes it does." If you have high cholesterol and are unable to take prescription drugs because of side effects or you just want a safer, natural alternative, red yeast rice may be worth looking into.

Max Wardlow is an independent natural health and nutritional supplement researcher and helps manage a website about natural remedies. Visit today to find out more about red yeast rice supplements

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Max_Wardlow


Lower Cholesterol Level

Red Yeast Rice - Lowering Cholesterol Naturally

Lower Cholesterol Level Presents:


Red Yeast Rice - Lowering Cholesterol Naturally

For those who have been advised to lower their cholesterol, but are concerned about the serious side effects associated with taking statin drugs (e.g. liver dysfunction, muscle atrophy, memory loss, etc.), clinically proven natural alternatives are available. The Chinese condiment Red Yeast Rice, for example, was judged by the Physician's Desk Reference On Nutritional Supplements to "significantly reduce total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol and total triglyceride concentrations, compared to a placebo." Considering the fact that the PDR is the authoritative text in the medical field on supplements, and it is written by doctors for doctors, it is disappointing that few doctors are recommending Red Yeast Rice to manage hypercholesterolemia in their patients. After all, Red Yeast Rice contains the same cholesterol lowering HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor (lovastatin) as the drug Mevacor. And yet, even at doses six times lower, Red Yeast Rice out performed the pharmaceutical isolated lovastatin, showing a wider range of benefits and incomparably higher safety margin.

Despite these findings and in defiance of both common sense and the rights of consumers to control their health, both the FDA and the manufacturer of lovastatin lobbied the courts to outlaw the sale of Red Yeast Rice, arguing that its efficacy qualified it as a drug, requiring FDA and medical regulation. In 1999, the Federal District Court in Utah ruled against the FDA, stating that Red Yeast Rice was not a drug but a dietary supplement. More recently the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on July 24, 2000 that Red Yeast Rice is subject to the regulation of the U.S. FDA. At present the future of Red Yeast Rice is uncertain, but what all this legal debate reveals is the rather profound collusion that exists between the private interests and the FDA. If something works great and is safer than expensive drugs, why should it be kept from the public?

Part 2: The Lower the Cholesterol The Higher The Profits

If you watch prime time television these days - even just on occasion - it is nearly impossible to miss the barrage of commercials trying to get you, and the rest of adult America, to sign up for the newest cholesterol lowering medication on the market. These advertisements would have us believe that if we care about our health, and those we love, we should keep our cholesterol low with drugs. The problem is that statins, like many of the drugs being marketed so aggressively to the public these days have dangerous, even fatal side effects.

No longer the exception, side effects and fatalities from drugs have hit astronomical levels. According to the one of the most respected and widely read medical journals in the world - The Journal of American Medicine (JAMA) - approximately 108,000 Americans die each year from the "non-error negative side effects of drugs." Throughout the entirety of our involvement in Vietnam, 53,000 Americans died. People flooded the streets in protest. The entire nation stood divided. History is still reeling from the sense of horror and disgust the senseless violence of the war brought before popular consciousness. And yet if the the JAMA statistics are accurate, annual fatalities from prescribed medication today are occurring at a rate 14 times higher than those occurring during the Vietnam war. What may be even more disturbing than the statistics themselves, is the fact that there is little, if any open and meaningful discussion occurring about them. When it comes to lowering cholesterol, plenty of sound research exists that calls into question the very concept of high cholesterol causing cardiovascular disease. Low cholesterol levels, in fact, have been shown to increase the risk of stroke and cancer.

Cholesterol, after all, is something our bodies have been equipped to produce plenty of. It is essential for the production of all the steroid hormones and Vitamin D, for maintaining the fluidity of cell membranes, and for transporting and distributing throughout the body fat soluble nutrients like vitamin E, carotenoids, and coenzyme Q10. CoQ10 is a co-factor for energy production in the mitochondria of every cell of our bodies. Since heart muscle has the most mitochondria of any muscle cell in the body (5000 mitochondria per heart muscle cell versus 50 for skeletal muscle), when levels of coq10 drop, the heart is one of the first organs effected. Why then, if statin drugs are known to cause a drop in coenzyme q10, are they being used to prevent heart disease? Unfortunately, because the drug companies are making a killing - both literally and figuratively - selling these drugs, they have every reason to distort or disregard information that contradicts their "lipid hypothesis" of heart disease. The mercurial relationship between drug companies and the "experts" who decide what strategies should be used by Americans to prevent heart disease, was made public by a consumer group recently. The following excerpt from an Associated Press article dated July 17th, 2004, addresses this relationship poignantly:

"Most of the heart disease experts who urged more people to take cholesterol-lowering drugs this week have made money from the companies selling those medicines."

The article went on to say that the new guidelines these experts drafted would add 7 million more Americans to the 36 million already encouraged to take the pills to lower cholesterol. Whether or not you choose to lower your cholesterol, or investigate in greater depth the validity of doing so, be advised that safe and natural methods of doing so exist.

To learn more about the benefits of Red Yeast Rice, visit: http://www.patienthealthyself.info/red_yeast_rice.html

Sayer Ji is a philosopher of nutrition and nutrition educator. He founded http://www.patienthealthyself.info this year in order to provide the public strictly scientific information on the therapeutic effects of herbs, foods, spices and vitamins. Without freedom of information, there can be no health freedom.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sayer_Ji


Lower Cholesterol Level