Re: Red rice yeast product

[Guest guest]

I found this article interesting, because I have been dealing with

cholesterol issues and was wary of taking a statin because of its possible

ill effects on the liver. I thought that perhaps red rice yeast would be a

better alternative, because I thought it would be a milder " more natural "

alternative to statin medication. Red rice yeast is available in South

Africa from the drug store (over the counter), but I also did some web

research and found the same conclusions as this article did. There is no

way to guarantee the amounts of the active ingredient in red rice yeast,

therefore you could be getting too little to help or too much which could be

very harmful.

And this is the problem that I have with " natural vitamins "

and " natural herbal products " , etc. Too many people think that just because

something is advertised as " natural " or " herbal " or " organic " , then it is

automatically good for you. (And if something does not carry these labels it

is automatically bad for you. This is simply not true.

The product itself

must be examined to see if the claims are true and if the product is

standardized (you are always getting the amount of ingredients the label

says you are getting), and if the benefits of the product outweigh the

possible side effects. I chose not to take red rice yeast for this reason.

Most " natural, herbal " products are not FDA regulated- making it difficult

to know just how much of an active ingredient you are actually getting.

Medications fall under more stringent regulations. I'm not saying you

should never take natural supplements, or that you should never take

prescribed medications. What I am saying is that you need to really look at the

product you are considering (apart from the advertising hype) and see if it will

be the best for you.

Blessings,

Barb

South Africa