High blood cholesterol levels, a condition often diagnosed as hyperlipidemia, affects approximately 16.3 percent of the adults in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Because high cholesterol increases your risk for heart disease --- the leading cause of death --- you should take the necessary steps to lower your cholesterol. Although red yeast rice, an alternative therapy, resembles the class of prescription medications known as statins, the two are not the same.
Red Yeast Rice
Red yeast rice is an alternative therapy some have classfied as a dietary supplement. Asian cultures have used this natural supplement to treat digestive disorder and blood circulation problems since 800 A.D. To produce red yeast rice, you must grow a specific strain of yeast on red rice known as Monascus purpureus. The resulting product contains compounds known as monacolins. One specific compound called monacolin K is the naturally-occurring form of the active compound in lovastatin, a statin medication.
Statins
A statin refers to a medication in the class of drugs known as HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors. HMG-CoA reductase is an enzyme that stimulates the liver cells to produce cholesterol. By inhibiting the action of this enzyme, statin medications effectively lower blood cholesterol levels. Some red yeast rice formulations that contain monacolin K also inhibit the HMG-CoA reductase enzyme, resulting in lower cholesterol levels.
Drug or Supplement
Although red yeast rice is a natural product, because it contains a compound with the same structure and function found in the statin medication lovastatin, the Food and Drug Administration, FDA, classified it as a drug. Therefore, the FDA forced manufacturers to remove any red yeast rice product that contains monacolin K from the market. Some dietary supplements still contain red yeast rice as one of the components but without that compound. Since the majority of the studies conducted on red yeast rice used the form that contains monacolin K, the ability of these supplements to lower cholesterol levels needs further study.
Precautions
All cholesterol-lowering medications should be taken under the care of your healthcare provider. This includes all dietary supplements and herbal medications. You should not take red yeast rice if you take a statin medication because it could enhance the effects of the medication and lead to liver damage. Because red yeast rice supplements are not manufactured under the strict guidelines that drug manufacturers must follow, the level and quality of any active compound can vary, resulting in potentially dangerous effects.
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