Anantha Babu K1, Anjaly Mary Varghese2
BACKGROUND AND AIMS
The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of red yeast rice (Monascus purpureus-fermented rice) in lowering cholesterol in the blood. At the same time, alanine aminotranferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and gamma-glutamyl transferase (γ-GT) were measured for notable side effects in the liver. Possible muscle damage was determined by measuring creatine kinase (CK).
METHODS
The cholesterol lowering effect in serum of red yeast rice-fed rats were studied over a 42-day feeding period. A total of 16 male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomised into 8 per group: control and treated. Treated rats were administered 1.35g/kg/day. Control rats were maintained on ordinary rat chow.
RESULTS
Serum cholesterol levels were significantly decreased by 19.13% in treated group compared to controls. This treatment also showed increase in serum ALT and AST activities by 41.90% and 21.53%, respectively. Mean CK activity in treated rats showed an increase by 32.32% when compared with control rats. γ-GT is the only enzyme that showed a decrease of 15.16% in sera of treated rats. Body weights of control and treated rats increased significantly by 10% end of feeding period but were not due to treatment.
CONCLUSION
Red yeast rice significantly decreased serum cholesterol level at a dosage of 1.35g/kg/day. However, the differences in serum enzyme activities between control and treated rats were not significant.
