Hosts warn red yeast rice is effectively an unregulated statin supplement

What was said

"The mechanism of the compound produced by this yeast that's grown on rice is that it blocks HMG-CoA reductase. It's a statin. It's a statin. But okay, because it's coming from a it's extracted from a plant. Plants produce different levels of these things. And so you have no idea how much you're getting. And so it can be dangerous."

Erin Welsh argues that red yeast rice products marketed as ‘natural’ cholesterol-lowering options work by the same pathway as statins, but without consistent dosing. The hosts say batch-to-batch variation and lack of supplement regulation can make the products unpredictable and potentially risky compared with prescribed medicines.