Should I stop taking this supplement?

Q:

I’ve been taking red yeast rice for months to lower my cholesterol, but my sister said she heard it can harm my liver. Should I stop?

A:

Great question! Many women reach for red yeast rice as a natural way to help keep their cholesterol levels in check. But there was a report in the news recently of a woman who was hospitalized with liver damage from taking too much.

Here’s the issue: Red yeast rice contains monacolin K, a cholesterollowering chemical produced naturally when red rice is fermented. In fact, monacolin K is identical to the active ingredient in lovastatin, a prescription medicine used to treat high cholesterol. The tricky part about selfprescribing red yeast rice is that different brands can have different levels of monacolin K, and that impacts the product’s cholesterol-lowering ability as well as the risk of unwanted side effects like liver damage.

My advice? Keep an eye out for symptoms like fatigue, bloat, dark urine and feeling full sooner than usual—all of which can be signs that you’re getting too much monacolin K. I also suggest having your liver function checked by your doctor to be sure the supplement hasn’t impacted the organ. While you’re there, discuss how much you should be taking.

But if you’re concerned about the risk, I advise a different supplement: bergamot. In one study, people who took 1,000 mg. of the citrus fruit extract daily for a month lowered bad LDL cholesterol by 36% and raised good HDL cholesterol by 40%. One to try: Reserveage Nutrition Bergamot Cholesterol Support with Resveratrol (Amazon.com). Finally, lifestyle tweaks like reducing saturated fats, eating foods rich in omega-3 fats, increasing fiber intake and exercising regularly can also reduce cholesterol.