Quote:
Originally Posted by olsen
for the respondent who is taking red yeast rice--you ARE TAKING A STATIN. RYR is mevacolin K, the SAME ingredient in Mevacor. Although the amount of statin in Red Yeast rice is much less, It IS A STATIN...
the FDA compiled listing of all reported adverse effects from statins is availaable under the freedom of information act--you need to write to the FDA petitioning for the information. good lluck.
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I tend to see these issues similar to Dr. Andrew Weil. Drugs generally are composed of one or two purified active ingredients. In contrast, herbs tend to have complexes of active alkaloids with similar but not exactly the same effects, and usually contain buffering agents. This has the effect of increasing safety, reducing side effects, and making the effects gentler and more extended in time than with drugs. In the case of (uncontaminated) red rice yeast, I'm not aware of any reported negative side effects.
A caution is in order. Just because it's an herb and "natural", doesn't mean that it's safe. Examples of toxic or deadly herbs are belledona, foxglove, oleander, amanita mushroom (also called death-cap or destroying-angel), and tobacco.