Red yeast lower bad cholesterol

A regimen of supplements and lifestyle changes is just as effective as medications used for reducing the levels of bad cholesterol in the blood. Red yeast rice comes from fermenting red yeast with rice. Known as hong ku, it is used as a medicine and food garnish in some parts of Asia. It contains a substance called monacolin-K that is nearly identical to the cholesterol-lowering drug lovastatin, as well as several other monacolins that may also have cholesterol-lowering properties. To compare the lipid-lowering effects of lifestyle changes, red yeast rice, and fish oil with medication, researchers from America randomly assigned 74 patients to receive 40 milligrams of medication daily along with information on lifestyle changes, or to three capsules of fish oil twice daily and 600 milligrams of red yeast rice daily along with the 12-week lifestyle programme. It was found that participants in the red yeast rice group lost an average of 5 kilograms compared to just 0.3 kilograms in the medication group. Though LDL cholesterol levels fell by 42 percent in the red yeast rice group and by 40 percent in the medication group; triglyceride levels didn't change in the medication group, but fell 29 percent in the red yeast rice group. It was concluded red yeast rice, fish oil and lifestyle intervention could help substitute medication for lowering cholesterol levels if further studies confirm above findings.

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