As any bread baker will tell you, yeast is a critical part in the bread making process.  Yeast converts sugars within the dough into carbon dioxide, allowing it to rise from the pan in which it bakes.

But what if I told you there’s another kind of yeast that makes things drop.  No, not bread dough, but rather cholesterol levels.

The yeast I’m talking about is not some bizarro yeast produced by Fleischmann’s.  Long before Fleischmann’s even existed, people have been using something called red yeast rice for a multitude of health-related reasons.

But as aforementioned, where it really holds a lot of sway in health circles is how effective it is in lowering cholesterol levels.  And more and more people are turning to this over-the-counter supplement as an alternative to statins, which are absolutely loaded with side effects, as I’ve documented in the past.

One of its more persistent side effects is muscle pain.  So in an effort to ease this pain in the neck (literally), researchers from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Medicine had half of 62 heart patients supplement with 1,800 milligrams of red yeast rice.  The other half stayed on their statin.

After 12 weeks of supplementation, researchers came back with results so impressive, it surprised the lead researcher.

Speaking to ABC News, Dr. Daniel Rader said, “I have to confess, I did not expect this degree of LDL lowering.”

He went on to say how impressed he was by the modicum of side effects from the red yeast rice.

So how impressive were the results?  Try an average drop in LDL cholesterol of nearly 30 percent (27 percent) in the red yeast rice group (just a six percent average drop among the statin group)!

Dr. Rader’s study is published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

The benefits of red yeast rice don’t stop with cholesterol lowering.  Previous studies have shown it to be a miracle worker in reducing the chances of having a second heart attack (according to a study published in 2008 in the American Journal of Cardiology), and may help keep blood sugar levels in check for those who have diabetes.

As you might expect, the FDA does not regulate the usage of red yeast rice, but if you’re interested in dosages, a concentrated dosage is considered to be between 1,200 and 1,800 milligrams.  But in China – where red yeast rice was originally discovered and where it remains a common supplement ingredient – it can be as little as 14 to 55 milligrams per day.

As always, you should consult with your doctor before taking red yeast rice.  If he or she is unfamiliar with the supplement, I encourage you to tell them about this article and the feature presented on ABC News this past June.  I’m confident they’ll recommend it.

Sources
abcnews.go.com
nlm.nih.gov