Maybe, but the effects on my blood lipid profile has been to put them right on target. Granted, I'm doing other good things to control my cardiac risks, but nothing I tried for a two year period brought my HDL level up until starting the red yeast rice. And, I take the less than minimal recommended dose of 1200 mg. twice a day (I take 600 mg. twice a day).

I think we're in agreement that anything you eat or drink poses risks, especially herbs which contain bioactive alkaloids. Since the action of red yeast rice is similar to statins, and the active ingredients are a mixture of statins and statinlike compounds, the same precautions should be followed as in taking statin drugs.

The example you posted of muscle destruction was in a recent kidney transplant patient. It's unlikely that red yeast rice in reasonable dosage poses a risk of muscle destruction to most of us. Large populations in China eat red yeast rice in the amounts of 30,000 mg. to 200,000 mg. a day as part of their normal diet without ill effect.

I'm concerned that this rather esoteric discussion will dissuade people from taking red yeast rice, which can be life saving for them and is effective and much safer for people with PN and fibromyalgia and is less expensive than pure statin drugs.