It seems as if I'm going to have to stop taking Niaspan, as increasing the dosage started giving me heart palpitations, stomach aches and a bit of insomnia. Low dose Niaspan wasn't helping, so my doctor wants me to drop it. My doc suggested either trying red yeast rice or Zocor. My HDL is what really needs improvement, but I guess at this stage I guess I am just aiming to reduce LDL/tryglycerides some, and hope for the best.
Now, as to red yeast rice... I'm not so concerned about safety regarding monocolin K (lovastatin), as past studies with RYR show it's very safe. And low (to no) doses in current supplements probably makes it a moot point anyway.
But the quality of the RYR, along with contamination + safety of the product in general does concern me. What I've gathered so far, when contacting several manufacturers:
It's very difficult to get full info and sometimes their answers are rather vague and seemingly trying to avoid the questions. Of the companies I did get info from:
Now Foods gave the most info, stating:
The red yeast rice contain naturally occuring monacolin K, generally
having about 0.06-0.10% Monacolin K. To have an exact amount, the red
yeast rice would have to be standardized, which we can not do per FDA.
NOW(r) Red Yeast Rice Extract is carefully produced to avoid the
presence of citrinin, a sometimes toxic by-product of the fermentation
process.
After another email, they stated their product does contain other monacolins too (but no mention of specific ones), and the product is sourced from China.
Next up, Natures Way. Their product comes from China too, but they wouldn't mention anything regarding their monacolin content at all. They said their legal team wouldn't allow it (a bit peculiar to me). They did mention a lot of info about their quality control though.
I contacted Nature's Plus, and they sent me a canned email response, asking me to call them. I had to call them twice to get any info, and got some girl who seemed a bit confused whenever I asked her anything. She said their product is sourced from the U.S., but it contains no monacolin K at all.
And finally, contacted Kyolic, who makes a good aged garlic product. Their representative said they are discontinuing it, and she provided no further info.
I tried emailing several other companies too, including the makers of Cholestene and Doctor's Best, but neither responded.
So... I still don't know which brand to try. The better companies in regard to product safety and reputation (Now Foods and Nature's Way) both source their red yeast from China. I am pretty sure that each have decent quality control, however.
Nature's Plus and Doctor's Best both (according to what they state) source their red yeast from the U.S. But I'm not sure if Nature's Plus would be considered in the same league as Now, Jarrow, AOR, etc. regarding quality control.
And Doctor's Best might be okay, but for some reason they put soy grits in each capsule... no clue if it's GMO soy or not.
What brands would people here recommend? I know I've seen mention of the Nature's Plus product before. Anyone have additional info regarding what is actually in specific brands of RYR?
Thanks for the link. It did answer some questions, although that post didn't go into much detail of other brands, besides the Nature's Plus product, Cholestin (not available in US) and Xuezhikang (not available in US either). The Source Naturals product mentioned has been discontinued.
And for Nature's Plus, some of the info differs from what they told me. The previous post mentioned a monacolin K content of .4%, yet the company states it currently has none. This can be due to FDA rules (and they want to be safe), a reformulation, or incorrect info previously posted.
The previous post also mentions they are USP certified, yet I can't find any USP symbol upon their website. Is it on the RYR bottle?
A COA or independent testing result from them would be great, but since the company doesn't answer emails, there is no way to actually view it.
Last edited by namelessme; 05-19-2008 at 12:37 PM.
I sought everything that you are presently seeking a few years ago.
I live outside of the US, so being listed as being USP certified has no meaning here, sorry.
However, each batch of this standardized product is independently tested and certified.
Your comment about quality control of this manufacturer, I cannot agree with after comparing quality control procedures from several US herbal manufacturers.
I can tell you one thing though 'man with no name', one 600mg tablet a day is all you need. Monacolin 'K' may or may not be present in the formula.....no problem, it works a treat.
My wife and I swear by it, but take it from me, use an extended release product.
"man with no name" I love you man! When it comes to RYR, you are the man!
I can hardly wait for 3 weeks to pass and get my blood re-tested. As you once said in a former life, if one 600 mg. tab won't cut it, then double up to 1,200 mgs.
