Red Yeast Rice: Nature's Weapon Against High Cholesterol

There's a miracle product that grows on rice grains and, when combined with a healthy diet and exercise program, is especially potent against high cholesterol symptoms.

What's this superhero's name? It's called "red yeast rice", and if you have been diagnosed with high cholesterol (or even just high triglyceride levels), you need to get acquainted with this powerful, all-natural weapon that has been shown to lower cholesterol in men and women around the globe.

A Little about Red Yeast Rice

Though red yeast rice might sound like a boxed product that you'd buy in the pasta, noodle, and rice aisle of your local grocery store, it's actually a fermented item that's not used as a "stand alone" ingredient in cooking. Instead, red yeast rice is used as a preservative and spice; additionally, its red color is used to tint some Asian recipes. But regardless of how red yeast rice is ingested, its presence in the body generally seems to lower cholesterol for the majority of individuals who ingest it.

What Red Yeast Rice Does

Millennia ago, the Chinese were using red yeast rice to help persons suffering from poor circulation and digestion difficulties. Consequently, over the past century or so, modern physicians and scientists have explored red yeast rice as a method to lower cholesterol in patients with high cholesterol symptoms.

These medical men and women experimenting with red yeast rice as a method of attacking high cholesterol have not been disappointed, as lower cholesterol seems to be reported during trials across the board.

How Can I Find Red Yeast Rice?

The easiest way to find concentrated amounts of red yeast rice to treat high cholesterol is via supplements. That way, the person taking in red yeast rice to lower cholesterol will know the exact dosage he or she is getting each day.

However, it's also possible to use red yeast rice during food preparation by including items such as certain wine vinegars. If you have high cholesterol symptoms and want to explore red yeast rice as an alternative to prescription medications (which many with high cholesterol find frightening due to their possibly serious or even fatal side effects), you can also visit your local Asian food market. You may find red yeast rice-infused products there that are unavailable at your local grocery store.

Can I Get Too Much Red Yeast Rice?

Fortunately, red yeast rice as a treatment for high cholesterol symptoms seems to produce few side effects if an "overdose" is taken. (Of course, only moderate intake is recommended). In fact, studies have shown no damage to internal organs of patients who were given ultra-high amounts of red yeast rice for long periods of time.

Still, if you're someone who wants to lower cholesterol naturally, it's urged that you begin taking small amounts of red yeast rice and gradually increase the amount over a period of time. That way, any side effects (such as heartburn) can be noted before any concerns occur.