MedWire News: An extract of Chinese red yeast rice can significantly reduce patients' risk of repeat heart attacks, study results suggest.

"Extracts of red yeast rice have been widely used for therapy of patients with circulatory disorders in China for centuries," explain Dr David Capuzzi, from Lankenau Institute for Medical Research in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, USA, and team.

They add that the results of small-scale studies have suggested that red yeast rice may help reduce cholesterol levels, but no large-scale, in-depth studies have been conducted into the association.

To address this, the team studied 4870 patients, aged between 18 and 70 years, who had recently suffered a heart attack.

The patients were asked to take a capsule containing a purified extract of Chinese red yeast rice, called xuezhikang, or a dummy supplement for an average of nearly 5 years.

All the patients in the study had similar risk factors for a repeat heart attack and continued to take their prescribed medications.

Over the course of the study, just 5.7% of patients taking the red yeast rice extract suffered another heart attack compared with 10.4% of those taking the dummy supplement.

The researchers therefore calculated that patients taking the red yeast rice extract were 45% less likely to suffer a heart attack than those taking the dummy supplement.

Further analysis also revealed that patients taking the red yeast rice extract were 30% less likely to die of any cardiovascular-related problems, and had significantly lower cholesterol levels by the end of the study than the other participants.

"Long-term therapy with xuezhikang significantly decreased the recurrence of coronary events and the occurrence of new cardiovascular events and deaths, improved lipoprotein [cholesterol] regulation, and was safe and well tolerated," the researchers conclude in the American Journal of Cardiology.

Dr Capuzzi added: "I think it is surprising that a natural product like xuezhikang would have this great an effect.

"If further testing and study prove true, my hope is that xuezhikang becomes an important therapeutic agent to treat cardiovascular disorders and in the prevention of disease whether someone has had a heart attack or not."

However, he warned against people purchasing over-the-counter supplements of Chinese red yeast rice to improve their heart health, as these are not regulated and are unlikely to contain the same active ingredients as the extract used in the current study.