Red Yeast Rice Among Dietary Aids To Circulation - Circulation

Fish oil, red yeast rice and minerals can all help fight diseases of the circulation, according to new studies.

Firstly, a team led by Dr David Becker at the University of Pennsylvania, USA, looked into dietary alternatives to the cholesterol-reducing drugs, statins. Although statins help prevent coronary artery disease many patients stop taking them, possibly due to cost or side-effects.

The team recruited 74 patients with high cholesterol who met the criteria for statin therapy. For three months, half the group took 40mg simvastatin per day, and the other half took fish oil and red yeast rice supplements (which may inhibit cholesterol production), and underwent a programme of heart, diet, exercise and relaxation education.

After three months, LDL cholesterol levels fell in both groups - by 40 per cent in the statin group and 42 per cent in the supplement group. But the supplement group also showed a drop in blood triglycerides, and lost more weight.

Findings appear in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Dr Becker said: "These results are intriguing and show a potential benefit of an alternative, or naturopathic, approach to a common medical condition."

A second team, led by Dr Mark Houston of Vanderbilt University, Tennessee, USA, suggest that heart disease can be prevented by using minerals to reduce blood pressure.

They calculate that an increase in dietary potassium could reduce rates of high blood pressure by more than ten per cent. Magnesium and calcium may have similar effects, they believe.

Dr Houston said: "If we were to achieve the correct potassium/sodium ratio through dietary means, there would be less hypertension and cardiovascular disease in the population as a whole."

The study appears in The Journal of Clinical Hypertension.