Middle Medicine

from:
http://www.istockanalyst.com/article/viewarticle+articleid_2274932~title_Traditional-Chinese.html

A traditional Chinese medicine, red yeast rice, has been shown in a randomized, five-year study to reduce the risk of repeat heart attacks by 45%, cardiovascular mortality by 33% and cancer mortality by 66%. Red yeast rice is fermented with a mold called Monascus purpureus. It has been part of traditional Chinese medicine for centuries.

The results of the trial will appear in the June 15 issue of the peer-reviewed journal, The American Journal of Cardiology. The article was co-authored by David M. Capuzzi of Thomas Jefferson Medical College’s Myrna Brind Centre of Integrative Medicine, located in Philadelphia, and Zonliang Lu, of the Fuwai Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Science. The five-year trial itself involved 5,000 patients between the ages of 8 and 70 years, conducted in 60 hospitals in China.

Participants in the trial were given either two 300-milligram capsules containing a purified version of red yeast rice (XZK) or a placebo and then followed over a five-year period. It’s not surprising that the XZK capsules showed efficacy as XZK contains a form of statin: lovastatin combined with lovastatin hydroxyl acid, ergosterol and other components.

Because the capsules contain only natural ingredients, it could be possible to take the drug even if people never experienced any cardiovascular problems or warning signs. In the trial, all participants had suffered a heart attack in the year previous to beginning treatment. The active drug group exhibited “few” adverse side-effects.