Hi Paul and Kitty,

I was researching cholesterol lowering regimens and came across the
following on qualitycounts.



My personal experience with red yeast rice and _Trinovin™_
(http://www.qualitycounts.com/fpredclover.html)

[The link above goes to a red clover page, not one on red yeast rice. However, I
spent some time on this person's (Ben Hess per the Contact page & resume) Home
page and found the page you refer to below:
http://www.qualitycounts.com/fpcholestin.html **Kitty]



Total cholesterol
Triglycerides
LDL
HDL
Baseline
_220_ (http://www.qualitycounts.com/fp/baseline.html)
187
149
34
10 mg Liptor, 1 gm _niacin_ (http://www.qualitycounts.com/fpniacin.html)
_186_ (http://www.qualitycounts.com/fp/lipitor&niacin.html)
129
119
41
% change from baseline
-15%
-31%
-20%
+21%
1.2 grams Solaray red yeast rice, 1 gm _niacin_
(http://www.qualitycounts.com/fpniacin.html) , 1 _pantethine_
(http://www.qualitycounts.com/fppantethine.html) and 1 _Novogen Trinovin™_
(http://www.qualitycounts.com/fpredclover.html)
_158_ (http://www.qualitycounts.com/fp/redyeast&niacin.html)
93
88
51
% change from baseline
-28%
-50%
-41%
+50%

I know that it's only the author's individual results but I would like to
have your opinion of the red yeast rice regimen.

[In order to see the above values in a manner that makes them understandable, it
is necessary to look at the table near the bottom of the page
http://www.qualitycounts.com/fpcholestin.html Once there, look at the first
column for the description of the conditions of the blood test values. It is
readily seen that the author starts with a baseline supposedly of no Rx or
supplements specifically for cholesterol effects (no mention of his diet and
exercise regimens or his weight/BMI; I am estimating his age at 54 based on his
resume dates). He then is on 10 mg Liptor and 1 gm niacin (but no time frame
provided); blood levels are given. The next change is to 1.2 grams Solaray red
yeast rice, 1 gm niacin, 1 pantethine (B5) and 1 Novogen Trinovin™ (red clover),
but again no time duration was provided or mention of his diet. Lipitor was
deleted from the first regimen and 3 new items were added in its place. Without
going any further, it is not possible to ascribe the final blood test values to
the inclusion of red yeast rice. The table title should at least be his results
with red yeast rice, Vit B5 and red clover and acknowledge lack of diet,
exercise and BMI data.

[In addition, it is highly possible that his initial use of Lipitor "primed" his
system to react to the other chemicals as it did. Ie. without first taking the
Lipitor, he would not have reached the values that he did. Frankly, I also would
be suspicious of the constancy of his diet during this whole period because of
the drastic reduction in triglycerides which generally only occurs when simple
carbs are greatly reduced. --Paul]

In order to see how the qualitycounts.com website author's cholesterol-related
parameters compared to ours, I extracted Paul's and my latest values (which are
the highest they have been in years) and reordered them per the qualitycounts
table provided. I've also calculated the author's Tot Cholesterol/HDL ratio and
provided the reference ranges.

Parameter/Person units - ref range Kitty -- Paul --- qcounts
----------------------------------1/21/04 -1/21/04 -- ?date
Tot Cholesterol mg/dL -- 100-199 -- 166 --- 168 ------ 158
Triglycerides - mg/dL -- 0-149 ----- 65 ---- 61 ------- 93
LDL (calc) ---- mg/dL -- 0-99 ------ 77 ---- 93 ------- 88
HDL ----------- mg/dL -- 40-59 ----- 76 ---- 63 ------- 51
Tot Chol/HDL -- ratio -- 0.0-4.4 -- 2.2 ---- 2.7 ------- 3.1

I'll let Paul make his comments on these results. **Kitty]

[There are many good ways to reduce LDL and TGs and to raise HDL. The simplest
way to reduce LDL is to reduce saturated fats, to completely eliminate
trans-fats, and to increase mono-unsaturated fats. TGs can be easily reduced by
reducing simple carbs. HDL can be increased by eating fatty fish. Anyone wishing
to have a more comprehensive list of cholesterol modifiers should look at the
LEF protocols for that. http://www.lef.org/protocols/prtcl-032.shtml
Probably most simply and best, all of these parameters can be moved in the right
directions by exercise and weight reduction by way of a reduced calorie high
nutrient diet.

Even though there is good evidence of their benefit for many health parameters,
I am concerned with taking statins (of which Lipitor is one) chronically because
they have not been on the market long enough to have a long term safety test in
humans. It is still possible that use of them can have some life-shortening
negative effects. Even though red rice yeast has been used in oriental medicine
for centuries, the same concern applies because of the lack of scientific
statistical evaluation of the results of its use. --Paul]


Thank you for your help.
Best Regards,
Bob