We use the natural statin red rice yeast only with caution (and coenzyme Q10 restoration) as a palliative when cholesterol is high and may be contributing to vascular disease due to inflammation and oxidation. But why use it instead of pharmaceutical statins? This randomized trial published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine documents that patients who had to discontinue conventional statin therapy due to muscle pain could tolerate red rice yeast. The authors set out to…

“…evaluate the effectiveness and tolerability of red yeast rice and therapeutic lifestyle change to treat dyslipidemia in patients who cannot tolerate statin therapy.”

They examined 62 patients with dyslipidemia who had to discontinue statin therapy due to muscle pains. Patients were randomly assigned to receive red rice yeast or placebo and were checked for LDL cholesterol, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, triglycerides, liver enzymes, and creatinine phosphokinase (CPK) levels after 24 weeks. What did the data show?

“Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level was significantly lower in the red yeast rice group than in the placebo group at both weeks 12 and 24. Significant treatment effects were also observed for total cholesterol level at weeks 12 and 24. Levels of HDL cholesterol, triglyceride, liver enzyme, or CPK; weight loss; and pain severity scores did not significantly differ between groups at either week 12 or week 24.”

In other words, the red rice yeast was effective and well tolerated by this group of patients who had adverse reactions to other statins, compelling the authors to conclude:

“Red yeast rice and therapeutic lifestyle change decrease LDL cholesterol level without increasing CPK or pain levels and may be a treatment option for dyslipidemic patients who cannot tolerate statin therapy.”

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