RED YEAST RICE:
THE NATURAL APPROACH TO
CHOLESTEROL MANAGEMENT
-
Support Cardiovascular
Health
- Lowers Cholesterol
- Lowers Blood Pressure
Cholesterol,
a lipid sterol found throughout the body, is necessary for the production of
sex hormones and corticol steroids. Important in the production of healthy
nerves and skin, cholesterol also plays a major role in maintaining overall
good health.
So why is cholesterol such a problem?
The trouble with cholesterol is that it has a tendency to combine with blood
platelets and adhere to the inside
walls of arteries. These "plaques" that are formed, restrict blood flow
through the blood vessels causing an increase in blood pressure.
Good and Bad
Cholesterol:
Although we do not yet understand the
mechanisms, we do know that elevated cholesterol levels correlate with a
higher risk of heart disease. However, all cholesterol is not a like.
Cholesterol travels through the blood via lipoproteins, a cholesterol
molecule attached to a protein. There are two main forms of these
lipoproteins; high-density lipoproteins (HDL's), and low-density liproteins or
(LDL's). It is the ratio of the HDL's to LDL's that plays
a key role in the health of our arteries. In general the higher the level of
LDL's the greater the risk of plaque formation and heart disease.
Red Yeast Rice:
Red Yeast rice extract is a
preparation from the yeast, Monascus
purpureus that is grown on rice using a traditional Chinese rice
fermentation method. Red Yeast
rice has been used in China for
thousands of years to make rice wine and as a flavor
enhancer for food.
Modern research has found that Red
Yeast rice extracts help promote healthy blood cholesterol levels by
inhibiting HMG-CoA retuctase, an enzyme directly responsible for the synthesis
of cholesterol in the liver. This inhibitor is called mevinolin, and
appears to be closely related to the active component found in a major
cholesterol-lowering
drug.
Red Yeast Lowers
Cholesterol:
Red Yeast rice has been shown to
lower total serum cholesterol
levels. In a double-blind study with 502 patients, Wang et al. demonstrated
that Red Yeast rice lowered total cholesterol levels by 22.7%. There was a 31%
reduction of LDL and a 20%
increase in HDL levels by the end of eight weeks
of treatment.
A study published in the American
Journal of Clinical Nutrition
by Herber et al., examined the
cholesterol-lowering effects of
Chinese Red Yeast rice using a double-blind placebo controlled trial over a 12
week period with 83 patients. In this trial, total cholesterol decreased by
20% and triglycerides decreased by 36% in the supplement group.
HDL-cholesterol concentrations increased by 17%