Red yeast rice
Monascus purpureus; Chinese hong qu
- Known today as
- Rice fermented with a red mould.
- Kind
- Fungus
- Constituents
- monacolin K, citrinin
- In other databases
- GBIF search · Wikidata search
Caution. Acts as a statin; not to be combined with statin drugs.
Red yeast rice: what was it used for?
A food coloring, wine starter, and medicine in China for the blood and digestion.
Red yeast rice: what does modern science say?
It contains monacolin K, the same molecule as the drug lovastatin (first drawn from the mould Aspergillus terreus), and lowers cholesterol; supplements vary in strength and can contain a kidney toxin.
Pharmacognosy & Toxicology
- Constituents
- monacolin K ChEMBLidentical to the drug lovastatin
- citrinin ChEMBLa nephrotoxic contaminant in some products
- Mechanism
- Monacolin K inhibits HMG-CoA reductase, the enzyme of cholesterol synthesis: it is lovastatin, which was first isolated from a Monascus mould by Endo in 1979.
- Checked against ChEMBL
- monacolin K: ChEMBL’s curated mechanism: inhibitor 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase.
- Toxic dose
- Supplements vary a hundredfold in monacolin K, and carry the muscle and liver effects of a statin unlabelled.
- Standing
- Products with a drug’s worth of monacolin K are ruled unapproved drugs in the United States; the European Union limits them to under 3 mg a day since 2022.
- Endo, A. (1979). “Monacolin K, a new hypocholesterolemic agent produced by a Monascus species.” Journal of Antibiotics 32. Verified against its record · doi:10.7164/antibiotics.32.852
- Gordon, R. Y., et al. (2010). “Marked variability of monacolin levels in commercial red yeast rice products.” Archives of Internal Medicine 170. Verified against its record · doi:10.1001/archinternmed.2010.382
Constituent names open the compound’s record at PubChem, and “ChEMBL” beside a name opens its record at ChEMBL, the European Bioinformatics Institute’s database of bioactive molecules. Where a mechanism line was checked against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37, read 1 October 2026), the check is shown with the measured value and its source paper, or says plainly that nothing has been measured. Doses are as the references give them, for description only; this is not medical advice. Each source carries the result of its check against Crossref, PubMed, or the authority’s page: see Verification.
Red yeast rice: what lore surrounds it?
Listed in Li Shizhen’s Compendium of Materia Medica (1578).
Sources
- Li Shizhen, Bencao gangmu (1578). Book, seen in reviews
Verification
- Checked
- October 1, 2026
- Passes
- Every sentence read against its sources, in the pass over the remaining 343 entries
- The Standing line checked against the authority it names (EMA, WHO, FDA, CITES, Commission E)
- Every dated or regulatory claim checked by category across the database
- The mechanism read against ChEMBL (ChEMBL 37): curated mechanisms and measured activity
- Sources
- 3 cited: 2 verified against its record, 1 book, seen in reviews.
- Corrections
- None were needed.
What was checked, how, and what was found is set out on the Verification page. A checked source is one whose record was found; it does not make the entry medical advice.
Cite This Entry
Version 1 · first published September 25, 2026
- Chicago
“Red yeast rice.” In Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema. Version 1. The Thinking Press, 2026–. Last modified September 25, 2026. https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/red-yeast-rice.
- MLA
“Red yeast rice.” Materia Medica, edited by B. C. P. Statema, version 1, The Thinking Press, 25 Sept. 2026, thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/red-yeast-rice. Accessed 8 Oct. 2026.
- APA
Red yeast rice. (2026, September 25). In B. C. P. Statema (Ed.), Materia medica (Version 1). The Thinking Press. Retrieved October 8, 2026, from https://thethinkingpress.org/materia-medica/red-yeast-rice
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See Also
Nearby in the alphabet
Reishi (red-brown bracket of hardwoods) · Red roses (Dried petals of Rosa gallica) · Rhubarb (Rheum officinale and R) · Ramps (the wild leek of the hardwood forests of the Great Lakes and the East) · Rocket (salad rocket) · Raisins (Dried grapes) · The Roman Ritual (issued by Pope Paul V in 1614, the year of Canale’s treatise) · Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris (syn)
Historical description, not medical advice.