There is no doubt that red yeast rice lowers cholesterol levels. Red yeast rice has been first discovered in China where it is used as both food and medicine because of its special medicinal properties. The red yeast is formed because of the fermentation caused by the fungus Monascus Purpureus which typically grows on rice the main reason why red yeast is effective in lowering the cholesterol level is because the chemical structure that is normally found in red yeast has active ingredients known as monocolin K which is almost similar to several well known statin drugs. At present, statins are among the most successful agents in lowering cholesterol levels and are commonly used in modern medicine for this purpose. There are numbers of clinical studies that have been conducted in order to determine the effects of red yeast and establish scientifically how red yeast rice lowers cholesterol.

By doing a special preparation, red yeast rice can be very effective in cholesterol level reduction and most of the tests conducted for red yeast rice preparations allowed health experts to discover the important substances that can be attributed to the effectiveness of red yeast rice. But on the other hand, medical experts do not recommend using red yeast rice preparations especially for pregnant women, young adults below the age of eighteen as well as persons diagnosed with liver disease or has a history in liver related ailments. Just like with other nutritional supplements, it is always practical to consult a doctor before using red yeast even if it is true that red yeast rice lowers cholesterol and there are several clinical studies that can support that claim. The substance known as statin can be a very effective natural agent when it comes to lowering cholesterol levels which can also be found similarly to red yeast rice but in order to avoid complications, consulting the expert opinion of a doctor might prove to be a very wise move before integrating red yeast rice supplements in any one's diet.

The good thing about red yeast rice is that it does not have the same chemical structure which can be found in most statin - based drugs in the market today. This means that red yeast rice lowers cholesterol effectively but it does not have any ill effects which can prove to harmful to human body in the process. The result of most of the clinical studies done in the past as well in the present prove that red yeast rice supplements are very effective in lowering cholesterol levels without the well known after effects of statin drugs. This is also less expensive as compared to prescription statin drugs although the effects can very much similar to it. How red yeast rice lower cholesterol has been regulated by the FDA and manufacturers of these products are duly licensed so it is only safe to assume that since the government has recognized the benefits of red yeast in lowering cholesterol levels, using it as prescribed by doctors will not give any side effects to users.