Cholesterol Conundrum

Doris, Red Yeast Rice (RYR) has been used in Chinese culture for almost 3,000 years.   In SouthEast Asia, where 1/2 my family comes from, it is one of the "go-to" options for High cholesterol.    Many Chinese swear by it.   

Now, here's where it gets really interesting... one of the studies that the Globe article refers to is this one: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/patient-redyeast.html (summary report).    Note that it was designed for people who "failed statin therapy".    Yet if you look at the results there were none of the side effects - muscle pain & weekness that accompany statins.   In the 59 patients (an admittedly modest sample size) in the trial, there was no evidence of elevated liver enzymes or increased creatinine phosphokinase (CPK) which are preliminary markers of the muscle issues.

So here's the study that should be done- compare RYR head to head against Lipitor, Mevacor, Crestor, etc. in a double-blind study.  Measure results and the secondary markers such as CPK, liver enzyme, and C-Reactive protein (measure of vascular inflammation) levels.   

My bet is that the thought of such a study terrifies some in big pharma...Other links that might be useful:

NIH write-up: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/patient-redyeast.html

Dr. Andrew Weil on RYR vs. Statins: http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/id/QAA400083

BTW, A daily dose of RYR costs about $0.50 vs. a daily dose of statins at $2 (generic) to $4 (brand) so 4-8x less in price, so there's a lot of money involved as well.