Recent studies have rejuvenated the purported benefits of consuming red yeast rice, a major food staple in most Asian countries. According to a new Pennsylvania study, this variety of rice has significant potential to lower cholesterol, but does show that this does not go without some side effects.

Generally, medical practice suggests statins as a primary means of lowering cholesterol, but has a real risk of incurring liver and bone damage in the process. The new study considers the use of red yeast rice as an alternative to statins for purposes of lowering cholesterol use.

Red yeast rice is produced by letting a certain type of yeast (Monascus purpureus) grow in cultures along the rice grains. This combination has been used in Asia both for food and medicinal purposes, but has only been actively proposed for medicine in Europe and the United States.

In the 62 people study, half of whom ate red yeast rice regularly while the others took a placebo alternative, the people who took red yeast rice fared 400% better in lowering their cholesterol than the control group after twelve weeks.

However, red yeast rice is under scrutiny by the FDA because it contains a natural statin called lovastatin, which is industrially used to manufacture the prescription drug Mevacor. The study does note however that the stain intake of the participants were insignificantly small.

Two of the study participants also exhibited muscle pain and liver problems, both are symptomic as statin side effects. However, the study argues that these cases were relatively minor. Side effects manifested on participants from both the red yeast rice and control groups.

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