For the past year, my husband has been taking Natures Plus Red Yeast Rice extended release at bedtime and his total cholesterol and LDL have both reduced substantially. His doctor recommended it. If this didn't work, he'd have to go on a statin. Fortunately that's not necessary now because his cholesterol dropped to about 200.

I'd like to add that there was a study published in the New York Times science column in late 2010 comparing efficacy of about 10 different red yeast rice products. Natures Plus Red Yeast Rice was included in the laboratory study. I ordered a copy of the results online and discovered that Nature's Plus seemed to test the best among all the other brands. Some of the other brands have a toxin after-effect to the kidney, something to do with the yeast fermentation process. Also some of the other brands don't necessarily have the concentration of monocolins which they state on their packaging. That has to do with quality control in the manufacturing process.

In any event, the study showed that Natures Plus Red Yeast Rice did not have the toxin and the monocolin count was accurate as stated (600).

I have to say we were very concerned about this toxin thing especially, and it was relief to learn that Natures Plus RYR passed the lab test. Otherwise my husband would have switched to a prescription statin. We are staying with this product.

My doctor recommended all-natural Red Yeast Rice pills instead of statin drugs for my high cholesterol. I have bad side effects with every statin drug I've ever tried and I've tried many of them over the past 14 years. My body just does not like synthetic drugs and for good reason. All drugs are plant-based, but then they add extra chemicals to them. My body rejects synthetic medicines because it was never meant to ingest those chemicals.

Changing my diet and exercising never helped. The only thing that DID help were statin drugs, which I could only take for a short time because I'd get really bad side effects.....nausea, vertigo, sore muscles (which is really bad because your muscles are actually deteriorating!), etc. Since I couldn't stay on a statin drug for very long, my cholesterol levels have always been in the upper 200s range. One time it was actually 296 and that really scared me!

There are many different brands of Red Yeast Rice, so I did my research and discovered Nature's Plus Herbal Actives Red Yeast Rice Extended Release gave the best results. I take one tablet every night before going to bed.

I just got the results of my latest blood cholesterol test. It had been exactly 3 months since I started these Red Yeast Rice pills.

Total cholesterol dropped from 264 to 214. (Should be under 200)

LDL (the bad cholesterol) dropped from 177 to 130. (Should be under 130)

HDL (the good cholesterol) went from 70 to 67. (Should be over 40)

Triglycerides went from 81 to 88. (Should be under 150)

So you can see the bad stuff (LDL and Total cholesterol) dropped dramatically and the stuff I was already OK with (HDL and Triglycerides) stayed about the same. I did not change a thing in my diet or exercise because I wanted to see how the Red Yeast Rice did on its own. My doctor says I'm now "on target" and to keep taking the Red Yeast Rice.

I just wanted to share these wonderful results and to prove that all-natural supplements can work just as well as synthetic drugs WITHOUT the unnecessary side effects and chemicals.

Now these are my results and yours may be different. You can decide what you want to do. I say, give it a try. If it doesn't work, then go back to your statins. The one drawback is that insurance won't pay for this supplement, but at 38 cents a pill and one pill a day this shouldn't break the bank!

My husband was having high cholesterol issues and unable to take any of the usual statin drugs due to it raising his liver count. Our doctor recommended he try Red Yeast Rice. He isn't a pill taker so I knew it wasn't going to be easy to get him to take many of the other brands that were 2-3 pills a day - so the extra cost of this 1 pill a day Nature's Best was the way to go. Now, let me tell you, I swear, I was amazed. Now, I am lucky if I can sneak a lettuce leaf into a sandwich for him - he doesn't eat vegetables and eats crappy, to be honest with you. He is a Lucky Charms / Fruit Loops kind of guy. A Bacon Cheeseburger man - with a vanilla milk shake to wash it down. Yes that is what his basic daily diet consists of. BUT after taking this Red Yeast Rice supplement, his cholesterol went down 100 points! Trust me, I was shocked! He has been on it for 6 months and is down to 120 - I am hoping his next visit he will be under 100. He didn't change one thing of his usual fat infused diet. Give it a try - hopefully it will do wonders for you also!

We have ordered this product for years and were so glad to see it back after it wasn't available for a month or so. But this bottle is damaged and could be contaminated. So I am sending it back and ordering another one. Hope the next one is undamaged.

Have bought this before. A good product.