Red Yeast Rice

It is sometimes written as Red Rice Yeast.

From NPR:

WHAT IS IT?
A dietary supplement called red rice yeast, combined with fish oil and healthy lifestyle changes, can help reduce "bad" cholesterol as effectively as the statin drug Zocor, new research suggests.

FOR WHOM?
"This might be an alternative for some people," says cardiologist David Becker, lead author of the study, published Tuesday in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

AND WHOM?
It might work particularly for those patients who can't tolerate side effects such as muscle cramps that sometimes come with statins, a class of drugs used to lower cholesterol.

HOW TO TAKE IT?
The combination of supplements, a modified Mediterranean-type diet and moderate exercise has helped Barry Baron, 59, an engineer who lives outside Philadelphia. These days, he tries to get to the gym several times a week and takes extra walks in his neighborhood.


From Wikipedia:

WHAT IS IT?
Red yeast rice (simplified Chinese: 红曲米; traditional Chinese: 紅麴米); pinyin: hóng qú mǐ; literally "red yeast rice"), red fermented rice, red kojic rice, red koji rice, anka, or ang-kak, is a bright reddish purple fermented rice, which acquires its colour from being cultivated with the mold Monascus purpureus.

ADULTERATION OF FOOD
Due to the low cost of chemical dyes, some producers of red yeast rice have tried to modify their products with red dye #2 Sudan Red G.

HOW DO THE CHINESE USE IT?
In addition to its culinary use, red yeast rice is also used in traditional Chinese herbology and traditional Chinese medicine. Its use has been documented as far back as the Tang Dynasty in China in 800 AD. It is taken internally to invigorate the body, aid in digestion, and revitalize the blood. A more complete description is in the traditional Chinese pharmacopoeia, Ben Cao Gang Mu-Dan Shi Bu Yi, from the Ming Dynasty (1378-1644).

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