Red Yeast Rice and Cholesterol

I've had some questions about red yeast rice and cholesterol. Some of you may be aware of the controversy regarding red yeast rice and lovastatin in 1999-2000. This is when the FDA said that red yeast rice contained lovastatin (a prescription drug to reduce cholesterol). Any supplement company that had products containing red yeast rice were told they had to take them off the market because the FDA had to regulate them because they contained a pharmaceutical drug.

My take on this is that Big Pharma did not want the nutritional supplement industry to cut their profits by providing a nutritional supplement that would compete with their choleterol lowering drugs.

Beyond that fact, is the fact that cholesterol is really not the issue. The issue is inflammation. See my post on November 20, 08.