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The FDA has released a warning that the use of red yeast rice (also known as red rice yeast, by its latin name, Monascus purpureus,  or by its Chinese name, Hong Qu) may pose a hazard to patients. Their rarionale is that it contains several varieties of HMG CoA reductase inhibitors, also known as statins. They consider this an adulteration of an herbal supplement by a pharmaceutical drug.

The facts are that red yeast rice is a staple of the Chinese diet and has been consumed in considerable quantities for millenia. Without harm. There is no “adulteration;” the entire class of statin drugs was discovered by research on red yeast rice. In other words, a scientist studying red yeast rice discovered lovastatin and with refining and more research, it was approved for treating cholesterol. Now, the FDA has sent warning letters to manufacturers who process and bottle red yeast rice demanding they cease selling it.

Of course this is not to say that red yeast rice is completely harmless, but all herbs have warnings and risks. For more info check out the following websites:

Chinese red yeast rice (Monascus purpureus) for primary hyperlipidemia: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Mayo Clinic

Medicinenet

WebMD

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 2nd, 2008 at 7:09 am and is filed under Herbs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.