NOW Foods inc. reply to my question about red yeast rice.
 

My cardiologist recommended "Complimentary RX" Red Yeast Rice (RYR) because that is what the pharmacy at Scripps Integrative Medicine sells. I couldn't find the brand on the web, so I submitted the question below to NOW Foods, Inc. Their reply is part of the quote below.

The product I'm interested in can be seen at http://www.iherb.com/ProductDetails....&pid=6687&at=0

The NOW Food Quality Assurance link is http://www.nowfoods.com/index.php/el...e/cat_id/33841 to get to various quality control topics.

"QUESTION: and REPLY:" was added by me to make the messages below easier to read.

Red Yeast Rice
 

Just a note to say that my wife has been taking Red Yeast Rice that she buys at Wal-Mart for about a year. It has seems to have made a difference in her cholesteral. Haven't heard anything one way or the other about the quality.

Ron

Imo
 

That was a rather banal reply.

No mention as to where the RYR comes from, or whether it is standardized to
potency, or a special strain, concentrated, nothing.

And no test to see if it has lovastatin (because then the FDA will yank it), of course, because that is the real mechanism of action.

RYR has lovastatin in it, for sure. It also has at least 6 other active components that work similar to, but not identical to the lovastatin. Did you not read the research report from UCLA that I posted previously?

I agree that the answer was somewhat banal. I assume that all RYR comes from China. It is reassuring that it's tested for contaminants by NOW Foods, but that isn't nearly enough.

It's ironical that the FDA tests the validity of food labels, but not supplement labels. I don't think that the situation with drugs is any better. Drug side effects are a major killer, as with Vioxx, Fenphen, etc.The job that the FDA does with drugs is ludicrous, allowing the companies that stand to profit from the sale of drugs do the approval testing of those drugs. We should demand independent testing of drugs and supplements both for safety, effectiveness, and labeling accuracy.

With RYR, every study I looked at found RYR to be as effective as statin drugs and far safer.

one is never safe:
 

I just got 10 shots of this stuff in the hospital 3 weeks ago. Wonderful. I was wondering why i had a recent craving for corn on the cob. Between 4 dollar a gallon heating oil and gas, a multitude of jobs being shipped overseas and contamination of so many food and drug products from china its dismaying how complacent most people here are about all of this.

Boycott Chinese goods.
They take away jobs from USA citizens.
They are causing problems, either thru negligence
or (some people say) on purpose.
I'm not a conspiracy theory advocate, but - I'm not kidding.
I look on every box and label of the products I buy, to try to buy things
that are not from China.
Its not easy. Try it sometime.
I look to my neighborhood independent stores to patronize them first.
Then to stores that sell USA goods. Sadly, there are very few.
But I go out of my way not to buy Chinese products, marketed by US companies.
Read the labels - Do Not Buy Chinese!
(End of soap box)

Yep. I generally don't if there's a choice, but China is the only source for some products, like red yeast rice. There's a family who tried to live "A Year Without China", then wrote a book about it. I heard the mother interviewed on radio. That year was extremely difficult for that family. The google page is http://www.google.com/search?q=a+year+without+china&ie .

By the way, I'm not anti-Chinese or prejudiced at all. The problems are poor regulation and quality control, and our government not negotiating fair trade deals that benefit us as much as them. Not all Chinese products are poor quality or unsafe, but we can't assume even a minimum of product-safety, decent labor conditions, or any environmental protection in manufacturing for any given product.

That is so sad and scary. I hope that HeyJoe isn't damaged by that junk.

see earlier
 

Welll, as I posted earlier, NOW told me they get their ingredients from China.
So they may test for specific toxins, but as we're finding out, Chinese medicines and chemicals have all sorts of contaminants. It's been very difficult to figure out what was the contaminant of the heparin, which had undergone "quality control" by our american drug companies.


From: "ProductInfo" <productinfo@nowfoods.com>T
Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 1:09 PM
Subject: A RE: Red Yeast Rice


Hello

Yes the Red Yeast Rice is obtained from China. Checked for purity just
like any of our other products.

Thank you for your inquiry,
NOW Quality, Science, & Nutrition Group