RESEARCH ARTICLE Red yeast rice lowers cho o m

supplement industries have proceeded without delay to produce a number of RYR formulations. These food sup-monacolins, which are inhibitors of hydroxymethylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase and thus inhibit chol-Verhoeven et al. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2013, 13:178 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/13/178and information on labels and actual content may differ.Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium Full list of author information is available at the end of the articleplements are marketed and mediatized as a “natural ” al-ternative to lipid lowering drugs and as a solution for patients who experience statin-associated myalgia. esterol synthesis in the liver. Monacolin K is chemically identical to the statin commercialized as lovastatin. RYR products are now widely available as over-the-counter products; however, monacolin levels per gram of labeled “active product ” are not standardized and show substantial variability among marketed products [2]. It is not possible to make a comparison between formulations, * Correspondence