Red yeast rice

"The Overlooked Super Nutrient Tailor Made For Enhanced Athletes" - Nelson Montana

Overview
Red yeast rice has been used for centuries in China as both food and medicine and is shrouded in folklore and mystery.  However, modern studies are showing that benefits are most certainly real.

Red Rice Yeast is made by fermenting a type of a yeast called Monascus purpureus over red rice.  In Chinese medicine, red yeast rice is used to lower cholesterol, improve blood circulation, enhance immunity, recover from illness, and help with digestive problems.  More recent evidence indicates it can also lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels.  It does so through a process stemming from the chemicals inherent in the yeast that are similar to prescription statin medications.  One of these compounds in red rice yeast, called monacolin K, has the same makeup as the drug lovastatin (Mevacor).  Doctors prescribe statins to lower "bad" LDL cholesterol levels and help reduce the risk of heart disease.

Researchers aren't certain if red yeast rice lowers cholesterol because of the statin-like chemical or because of other things it contains such as unsaturated fatty acids, isoflavones, and phytosterols.  There is strong speculation that it improves blood circulation, though they’re not exactly sure why.  At any rate, studies prove it works!  Maybe a little too well — for the drug companies.  Because Red Rice Yeast contains monacolin K the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could in theory actually consider it a drug.  For this reason, pharmaceutical companies have been attempting to ban the sale of red rice yeast as a food supplement, so it may be exclusively be sold as a drug. (Or more precisely, have it controlled by the pharmaceutical companies and sold with a prescription, thus charging many times more for it).

Therapeutic Uses
For athletes using anabolic steroids, the risks of high cholesterol is increased and the addition of red rice yeast acts as a protectant against LDL going too high.  This is a huge advantage in regard to maintaining health while using certain drugs to accelerate the growth of muscle.

Studies

• A 2008 study compared people with high cholesterol who took fish oil and red yeast rice with people who took a standard dose of Simvastatin. (Zocor).  Cholesterol levels went down in both groups, proving red yeast rice and fish oil together to work as well as the prescription medications.
• Another study by UCLA School of Medicine involved 83 people with high cholesterol levels.  Those who took red yeast rice over a 12 week period had lower levels of total cholesterol, "bad" LDL cholesterol, and triglycerides (fats in the blood) compared to those taking placebo.  "Good" HDL cholesterol levels did not change in either study group.
  A study presented to the American Heart Association showed that red yeast rice lowered LDL cholesterol.  In the study, 187 people had mild-to-moderately high levels of total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol.  The study showed that taking red yeast rice reduced total cholesterol by more than 16%, LDL cholesterol by 21%, and triglycerides by 24%.  HDL cholesterol also went up by 14%.
• In another 8-week study of 446 people with high cholesterol, those who took red yeast rice had a drop in cholesterol levels compared to those who took placebo.  Total cholesterol fell by 22.7%, LDL by 31%, and triglycerides by 34% in the red yeast rice group.  HDL cholesterol went up by 20% in the red yeast rice group as well.
• The National Library of Medicine reports that red rice yeast provided beneficial effects in hyperlipidemia patients and might have also positively affected cardiac outcomes.  Studies like these give confidence to patients seeking alternative cholesterol-lowering therapies in place of more conventional statin therapies.

Conclusion
All in all, red rice yeast is a super nutrient that would benefit anyone, especially athletes.  And it can provide an extra dose of protection against the detrimental effects of anabolic steroids by protecting the heart, liver, kidneys and maintaining normal lipid levels.  It would be foolish not to incorporate it into any serious supplement regime.

Red rice yeast is one of many cholesterol controlling ingredients available in N2GUARD.  If you are running a steroid cycle or even thinking about it, you must take N2Guard to help guard your organs against damage from Steroid use.