AI Life Support

[Chad Cilli]

Just wondering if anyone has used this or has an opinion of it.

It's supposed to help blood pressure, liver function, prostate, immune, cholesterol, and be an antioxidant.

It contains: red yeast rice, NAC (N acetyl cysteine), silymarin, hawthorn berry, saw palmetto, nettle root, celery seed extract, idebenone, and policosonol.

The only thing in it I'm uncomfortable about is the red yeast rice. I know it actually does nothing for cholesterol, but I'm worried that it could act like a statin and cause muscle or liver damage. The crappy thing is, the more I research it, the more muddied it becomes. It's like soy, for every bad thing you read about it, you find something good. Just gives me a headache.

In any case, what do you guys think of it? I know most of you are very careful with your supplement choices.

[Garrett Smith]

RYR contains a naturally-occurring statin, this is what all modern statins evolved from.

[Chad Cilli]

I'll be totally honest, I don't completely understand why statins should be avoided. I know that they CAN cause myalgia and even rhabdomyolysis due to break down of muscle tissue, and I know that they CAN be bad for your liver, but is that true for all people? Or are we talking about special populations like the elderly?

I thought I had read that red yeast rice was only effective when it first came out because they were adding lovastatin to it, but that it was not an effective statin by itself. Would it be safe then to assume that if it does not provide any of the benefits of statins that it would not come with any of the negative effects of statins?

I can't get over all the mixed information out there on it. I read one study claiming it as a miracle drug only to find it linked to an article about why red yeast rice is dangerous.