“What is the red yeast rice [extract]”.
years ago, it used to naturally contain a substance similar to lovastatin, a statin.
However, the statin drug companies demanded that the FDA shut down the sales of this supplement:
Legal Status of Red Yeast Rice
“In 1998, the FDA determined that a red yeast rice product that contained a substantial amount of monacolin K was an unapproved new drug, not a dietary supplement. On several occasions since then, the FDA has taken action against companies selling red yeast rice products that contain more than trace amounts of monacolin K, warning them that it is against the law to market these products as dietary supplements.”
Now, it’s a total crap shoot whether ANY red yeast rice extract contains more than trace amounts of lovastatin, and thus would be useless for lowering cholesterol.
BTW, my one and only attempt at taking a statin was red yeast rice extract BEFORE the FDA removed the effective versions from the market, and I got every nasty side-effect in the book for statins, including muscle weakness and pain, and very fuzzy thinking and cognition. When I quit, all the negative side-effects went away, and I never considered taking a statin again.
Healthy Origins Cholestene HPF?