My friend went to our local health food store after we read your site about lowering cholesterol with natural things like red yeast rice and bought some. The man there did his own research on his computer and told her it was not safe..........any input for me here about safety??

We both have recently been told to lower our cholesterol levels and want to do it without drugs from the doctor.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon.

My friend also has breast cancer if there is a connection or danger here to be considered with this product.

Sincerely,
Betty

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Betty,

Thank you for your good question.

Red yeast rice is the natural form of Lovastatin - which is a statin drug designed to lower cholesterol by inhibiting the formation of cholesterol via the HMG-CoA pathway.

This pathway also forms the enzyme, CoQ10. When the pathway is interrupted, low CoQ10 levels will cause myopathy (loss of muscle tone and cardiovascular issues).

Simply supplementing with CoQ10 while on statin drugs is necessary to avoid many side effects.

I have sent you an email from PubMed which lists research on red yeast rice. You may go there directly and type in "red yeast rice" into the search bar.

Interaction between breast cancer and RYR is up to her physician and what drugs she is on. I cannot say if it is safe or not. A good source for drug interactions can be found at Drug Digest.com

All drugs, including herbs and homeopathy, all have potential undesired effects some of which may be very harmful. Thus, it is always necessary to consult with a trained physician - preferably with formal training in herbal medicine and pharmacology. A licensed naturopathic physician has such training.

Hope this helps!

In health,
Ben

A natural lowering cholesterol supplement that has shown effectiveness clinically is Bio-Lipotrol by Biogenesis.