Red Yeast Rice

[Dawg52]

Anyone using this over the counter product to lower your cholesterol? I work with 2 guys who both had cholesterol levels in the 250 range and it lowered theirs to around 200. It was recommended to them by our company insurance agent.   The product contains Lovasatin which is an ingrediant to a prescription drug known as Mevacor. See link below.

Just wondered if there are any medical people here that can give some pros and cons to the drug.

http://www.pdrhealth.com/drug_info/nmdrugprofiles/herbaldrugs/102345.shtml
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/red-yeast-rice/NS_patient-redyeast

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

the over the counter product i use is a vegetarian diet. look ma, no pills.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

My wife was interested in this stuff last year when her cholesterol mysteriously jumped from 150 to 300 (went back to 150 on its own, probably a bad test).

IIRC there was little difference between taking this supplement or the prescription equivalent, which has plenty of side effects, except for the lack of oversight and control, purity, assurance of dosage and so forth. I thought it had been pulled from the market because it contained a substance requiring prescription. I had heard that it was replaced by something else that had a similar ingredient but wasnt exactly like a prescription item.
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