Which species of yeast is used in the production of red yeast rice?”
Red yeast rice is produced when a yeast, Monascus purpureus, is grown on rice. It has been used in Asian countries for more than a thousand years as food and medicine. In the United States and Europe, it has been proposed as an alternative cholesterol-lowering treatment for people who cannot take statins because of severe side effects, mainly muscle wasting and weakness.
Red Yeast Rice Fermentation by Selected Monascus sp. with Deep-Red Color, Lovastatin Production but No Citrinin, and Effect of Temperature-Shift Cultivation on Lovastatin Production. ed yeast rice is an all-natural whole food powder made from dried fermented rice, with a remarkable ability to lower LDL-cholesterol levels with minimal side effects. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled study at UCLA, a dose of 2.4 grams of red yeast rice powder per day decreased LDL-cholesterol by 18% after 8 weeks 1. Similar studies conducted in China with a more concentrated form of the same product resulted in decreases in LDL-cholesterol of up to 32% after 8 weeks 2, 3. Pretty impressive results for a nutraceutical, you’d have to agree.
A new study revives a running controversy about the purported cholesterol-lowering effects of the centuries-old natural product called red yeast rice. Red yeast rice is produced when a yeast, Monascus purpureus, is grown on rice. It has been used in Asian countries for more than a thousand years as food and medicine. In the United States and Europe, it has been proposed as an alternative cholesterol-lowering treatment for people who cannot take statins because of severe side effects, mainly muscle wasting and weakness. The new study, from physicians in Pennsylvania and reported in the June 16 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, found a significant cholesterol-lowering effect of a commercially available nonprescription red yeast rice product in a small group of such people. The study included 62 people who stopped taking statins because of side effects. All of them followed a lifestyle change program, including education on nutrition, exercise and relaxation techniques. Half also
