Description
Natural management of cholesterol levels in healthy ranges includes dietary and lifestyle modifications, including low saturated fat diet, and exercise. Additionally, several nutrients and botanicals can be used to help maintain normal lipid metabolism and support healthy cholesterol levels.
Red yeast rice is an extract of rice that’s been fermented with a type of yeast called Monascus purpureus. It’s been used in China and other Asian countries for centuries as a traditional medicine and in modern time as a food coloring, additive, and preservative. Studies have shown that red yeast rice can significantly lower levels of total cholesterol and specifically LDL, or “bad” cholesterol.
The same enzyme system involved in cholesterol production is also involved in the production of CoEnzyme Q10, an important nutrient for the cardiovascular system. CoEnzyme Q10 is needed by the cardiac muscle to produce energy. In order to maintain healthy levels of Co Q10, while keeping cholesterol levels in the healthy range, Red Yeast Rice w/Co Q10 contain 50mg of CoEnzyme Q10 per capsule.
The Effectiveness of Red Yeast Rice is Well-documented
In a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, researchers examined the cholesterol-lowering effects of red yeast rice in an American population. Subjects in the study were put on a diet similar to the American Heart Association Step I diet.
In this double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized 12-wk controlled trial; researchers evaluated the cholesterol-lowering effects of red yeast rice supplementation in US adults separate from effects of diet alone. The study examined 83 healthy subjects (46 men and 37 women aged 34″“78 y) with total cholesterol ranging from 204″“338 mg/dL; LDL cholesterol ranging from128″“277 mg/dL; total triglycerides ranging from 55″“246 mg/dL; and HDL cholesterol 30″“95 mg/dL. None of the participants in the randomized 12-week controlled trial were being treated with cholesterol lowering prescription drugs.
Subjects were treated with red yeast rice (1200mg twice daily) or placebo and instructed to consume a diet providing 30% of energy from fat, less than 10% from saturated fat, and less than 300mg cholesterol daily. The participants were tested for total cholesterol, total triglycerides and HDL and LDL cholesterol at weeks 8, 9, 11, and 12.
At the conclusion of the trial total cholesterol concentrations decreased significantly between baseline and week 8 in the red yeast rice group compared with the placebo-treated group. LDL cholesterol and total triglycerides were also reduced with the supplement, however, HDL cholesterol, the “good cholesterol”, did not change significantly. The researchers concluded that red yeast rice reduces total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and total triglyceride concentrations compared with placebo and provides a new, novel, food-based approach to lowering cholesterol in the general population.
60 V Caps
