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Genuine efficacy of one aspect of TCM

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  • Genuine efficacy of one aspect of TCM

    From one of my medical journals:

    June 16, 2008 — A large, randomized clinical trial with the partially purified extract of Chinese red yeast rice has shown that the extract, known as Xuezhikang (XZK), reduced the risk of major coronary events by almost 50% as well as reduced the risk of cardiovascular and total mortality, in patients with a previous myocardial infarction (MI) [1].

    "Results showed that treatment of this study population with XZK produced profound changes in both lipoprotein lipids and the number of recurrent coronary events," writes lead investigator Dr Zongliang Lu (Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China) in the June 15, 2008 issue of the American Journal of Cardiology. "The decrease in these events found in the present study appears to exceed those reported with statin monotherapy in a similar trial of Western patients enrolled in the Cholesterol and Recurrent Events and other statin trials."

    Extracts of red yeast rice have been widely used in China for therapy in patients with circulatory and digestive disorders for centuries, and preparations of red yeast rice have been shown to lower plasma lipoprotein levels. Lovastatin, the first statin approved in the United States, occurs naturally in certain forms of red yeast rice that are made when the rice is cultivated with the mold Monascus purpureus. Interestingly, XZK also gives Peking duck and spare ribs their distinctive bright color.

    In this study, known as the Chinese Coronary Secondary Prevention Study, investigators sought to determine the long-term efficacy of XZK on the reduction of recurrent cardiovascular events in Chinese patients with average low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol levels. The multicenter, randomized, double-blind study was conducted in 4870 patients, aged 18 to 70 years, over a five-year period at more than 60 hospitals in the People's Republic of China. All patients had total-cholesterol levels between 170 and 250 mg/dL and triglyceride levels ≤ 400 mg/dL.

    Patients in the treatment arm received 300-mg capsules of XZK. After an average follow-up of 4.5 years, the primary end point, a composite of nonfatal MI and death from coronary heart disease, was 10.4% in the placebo group and 5.7% in the XZK-treated group, a relative risk reduction of 45%. Treatment with XZK also decreased cardiovascular and total mortality, reduced the need for revascularization, and significantly lowered total- and LDL-cholesterol levels. Cancer risk was also significantly reduced with the red yeast extract.
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  • #2
    From what I understand, red yeast rice contains components which are biochemically similar to statin medications.

    So similar in fact, that a pharmaceutical corporation got the FDA to ban the sale and trade of red yeast rice in the US for several years, under the grounds that it infringed on their patent and was an uncontrolled prescription drug.


    Apparently its legal again now though.
    Show me a man who has forgotten words, so that I can have a word with him.

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