Can I take red yeast rice for my cholesterol?

Sure, but you'd be better off with a PRESCRIPTION statin, because turns out red rice cozied up with yeast just makes Mevacor and other misc. HMG-coa-reductase inhibitors:

"When rice is fermented with the yeast Monascus purpureus, the resulting product contains numerous monacolins, which are naturally occurring HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors. One of these is identical to the prescription drug Mevacor (lovastatin)."

Hey, guess what? Same side effects, too, including hepatitis, rhabdomyolysis, and myositis.

Guess what else? Red rice yeast has EXTRA side effects:

"Some red yeast rice products contain citrinin, a mycotoxin that can cause kidney failure in animals. In one study, measurable amounts of citrinin were found in 7 out of 9 products tested. and in another study citrinin was found in four out of ten products tested, with the highest level found in a supplement sold by a major pharmacy chain."

That's SO COOL! You can take a potentially dangerous drug on your own, without a physician's supervision, and get yourself into serious trouble.

Course you can do that with aspirin, too, but don't. What exactly is the point of taking an unregulated, non-standardized drug? Oh, think it's cheaper? Probably not. Generic lovastatin is $4/month. And I'll be happy to watch your liver function while we both rejoice in your LDL going down.

Read all about it at Science-Based Medicine:

Red yeast rice to lower cholesterol

If you have a subscription to The Medical Letter, read all about it: Vol 51, Issue 1320, P 71-2, Sept 7, 2009.