Red Yeast Rice and Cholesterol

rosebette
rosebette Posts: 1,660 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I just had my annual bloodwork, and my cholesterol is still a bit high -- 237, LDL 158, HDL 67. The practitioner said she won't put me on meds because the "good" cholesterol is high and my triglicerides are very low, 81 (which is below normal). However, she recommended Red Yeast Rice supplements in addition to fish oil to bring the LDL down. I bought some but noticed a lot of side effects and cautions listed (more than fish oil, which I've been using). Any one have experience with Red Yeast Rice and cholesterol?

Replies

  • Pinkylee77
    Pinkylee77 Posts: 432 Member
    Yes it works just not as fast as Lipitor but with much fewer side effects.
  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
    Monacolin K is very similar to statins and comes with the same cautions.

    Most red rice yeast sold is snake oil and contains little to none Monacolin K.
  • kes840
    kes840 Posts: 66 Member
    I got off a statin because of muscle pain and tried RYR for a while. The active ingredient is basically lovastatin...so you are effectively taking a very low dose of that. I got a small lowering of LDL w/ no muscle pain, which I probably would have gotten if I'd been taking a really low dose of prescription med.

    There are a number of nonprescription approaches to lowering cholesterol: RYR, fish oil, Metamucil (!), walnuts. From what I can tell, these approaches (and statins) are treating the marker for but not the underlying mechanism of disease. I'm not a doctor or a bench scientist, though.

    I'm not on anything now. My LDL is high (187) but my HDL and triglycerides are stunningly good, and I have no risk factors other than age (62). I'll retest in 6 months after having lost my 15lbs and see where things stand then.

    True what RuNaRoUnd says...you can't really tell what's in any nutritional supplement. For sure don't buy anything made in China!
  • Pinkylee77
    Pinkylee77 Posts: 432 Member
    my physician has me take colestoff (sp) and mega red. I have seen it work
  • InigoAndTheVoid
    InigoAndTheVoid Posts: 16 Member
    Honestly it seems strange to hear that recommendation from a physician. Red yeast rice is essentially a statin, but without anyone doing the work to ensue you are getting a specific dose of that drug.
  • rosebette
    rosebette Posts: 1,660 Member
    My practitioner "called in" the request for the Red Rice Yeast to the pharmacy and the pharmacist recommended a couple of brands and suggested I just take one a day, at most two, so I'm trying one pill a day to see how it goes. I already take fish oil, eat nuts, and occasionally use Metamucil. Like Kes840, the rest of my numbers are pretty good. I lost about 6 lbs. a couple of years ago when the cholesterol was around 270 and that helped some, but I haven't been able to lose anymore. I'm only 120 lbs., so I don't think losing any more weight is going to help. My practictioner thinks my weight is fine; at my age (over 50) doctors aren't enthused about getting us down to the bottom of the BMI.
  • RuNaRoUnDaFiEld
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld Posts: 5,864 Member
    InigoAndTheVoid wrote: »
    Honestly it seems strange to hear that recommendation from a physician. Red yeast rice is essentially a statin, but without anyone doing the work to ensue you are getting a specific dose of that drug.

    That was my thoughts also. Very strange.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »
    InigoAndTheVoid wrote: »
    Honestly it seems strange to hear that recommendation from a physician. Red yeast rice is essentially a statin, but without anyone doing the work to ensue you are getting a specific dose of that drug.

    That was my thoughts also. Very strange.

    A lot of doctors will recommend it before going to statin therapy...it's basically a low dose statin and many of them also have added plant sterols and stanols which also help. I've found it to be very beneficial without the loads of side effects of statin therapy. As with any supplement, one should do their homework and not just pull the first (and cheapest) thing they see off the shelf. It is also recommended that you take CoQ10 if you're taking red yeast rice.
  • rosebette
    rosebette Posts: 1,660 Member
    Why is the CoQ10 recommended? Th
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    RuNaRoUnDaFiEld wrote: »
    InigoAndTheVoid wrote: »
    Honestly it seems strange to hear that recommendation from a physician. Red yeast rice is essentially a statin, but without anyone doing the work to ensue you are getting a specific dose of that drug.

    That was my thoughts also. Very strange.

    A lot of doctors will recommend it before going to statin therapy...it's basically a low dose statin and many of them also have added plant sterols and stanols which also help. I've found it to be very beneficial without the loads of side effects of statin therapy. As with any supplement, one should do their homework and not just pull the first (and cheapest) thing they see off the shelf. It is also recommended that you take CoQ10 if you're taking red yeast rice.

    Why is the CoQ10 recommended? Some of the products recommended that you use that, too, but the pharmacist didn't say anything about it. I just thought it was the supplement company trying to sell something extra. Is there any harm in not taking the CoQ10 with it?
  • OvkT
    OvkT Posts: 1 Member
    Although red yeast rice is safer than statins they too have been implicated with some serious adverse events, such as neuropathy.

    Statins are tightly linked to muscle disorders, higher mortality, cancer, cataracts, erectile dysfunction, neuropathy, etc. Statins and a Dr. Oz advertised diet pill, garcinia cambogia extract, are also substantially associated with diabetes and this was found to happen even with a low dose of statins over a prolonged period of intake - study the scholarly report at http://www.supplements-and-health.com/garcinia-cambogia-side-effects.html and look at Figure 7 to see how irrational it is to block the production of cholesterol!

    Users of red yeast rice may face a similar risks. Because it's likely that not all of the adverse effects seen with red yeast rice use are due to product contamination but to physiological perturbations in the aftermath of blocking cholesterol production (read the article cited above).

    Because the cholesterol-heart disease theory, or rather medical dogma, is wrong, the use of cholesterol-lowering statins (or other agents) is also wrong by logical extension. Older people with HIGH cholesterol live longer than those with low cholesterol levels.

    Statins have almost no real benefit in the very vast majority of users. They do more harm than good.
  • V_Keto_V
    V_Keto_V Posts: 342 Member


    That was my thoughts also. Very strange. [/quote]

    A lot of doctors will recommend it before going to statin therapy...it's basically a low dose statin and many of them also have added plant sterols and stanols which also help. I've found it to be very beneficial without the loads of side effects of statin therapy. As with any supplement, one should do their homework and not just pull the first (and cheapest) thing they see off the shelf. It is also recommended that you take CoQ10 if you're taking red yeast rice. [/quote]

    Why is the CoQ10 recommended? Some of the products recommended that you use that, too, but the pharmacist didn't say anything about it. I just thought it was the supplement company trying to sell something extra. Is there any harm in not taking the CoQ10 with it?[/quote]

    "What is the role of coenzyme Q10 (ubiquinol)?


    In patients with a history of statin muscle symptoms, confirmed by placebo-controlled crossover rechallenge, CoQ10 600 mg daily did not affect pain, muscle strength, or aerobic performance vs placebo in patients taking simvastatin 20 mg daily [Evidence level B; lower-quality RCT].2
    Canadian and European consensus panels advise against use of dietary supplements (including vitamin D) for statin muscle symptoms.3,10
    Coenzyme Q10 is well-tolerated if patients insist on trying it.7 However, it can be expensive. The suggested dose for statin muscle pain is 100 to 200 mg daily (in divided doses if >100 mg/day)."

    Please don't listen to internet quacks & their misinformation about drugs

  • RodaRose
    RodaRose Posts: 9,562 Member
    Red Yeast Rice is a statin.
  • rosebette
    rosebette Posts: 1,660 Member
    This is just a follow-up on my thread. I've been on the Red yeast rice for about 4 weeks and ended up discontinuing due to extreme pain in my hip joints and lower back which seems to be completely unrelated to any exercise or other physical activity I'm doing. When I stopped using it, the pain began to subside. Basically, the same side effect as I feared from a statin.
  • MelaniaTrump
    MelaniaTrump Posts: 2,694 Member
    edited March 2016
    Muscle pain is a complaint of statins.
    http://www.mayoclinic.org/statin-side-effects/art-20046013?pg=1
    Costco sells brands of both coq10 and fish oil at a good price (worth the membership).
    Consider coq10, even though it's expensive. My parents say it helps with the mental fog of statins.
  • Pinkylee77
    Pinkylee77 Posts: 432 Member
    how about mega red crill oil and colestoff. You can look at the ingredients and see if they are similar to what you tried
  • rosebette
    rosebette Posts: 1,660 Member
    edited March 2016
    I'm already taking 4 caps of fish oil every day. I did some research and colestoff has the same ingredient as red yeast rice -- that's why it works as a statin. Does CoQ10 lower cholesterol or does it have some other purpose (to alleviate the side effects of statins)?

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