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(Ivanhoe Newswire) People whove survived a heart attack may want to take an ancient Chinese natural supplement to prevent future heart problems. A recent study found Chinese red yeast rice, or Xuezhikang (XZK) can reduce the risk of heart attacks.
The Chinese study looked at 5,000 patients between the ages of 18 and 70 over a five-year period. All participants suffered a heart attack in the year before the start of the study. Researchers found giving participants two capsules of XZK reduced their risk of heart attacks by 45 percent. They also found the capsules reduced the risk of need for bypass surgery or angioplasty by one-third, cardiovascular mortality and total mortality by one-third and cancer mortality by two-thirds.
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Chinese red yeast rice is a particular kind of rice fermented by the fungus Monascus. According to the UCLA Center for Human Nutrition, the first documented use of this supplement was in 800 A.D.
If further testing and study prove true, my hope is that XZK becomes an important therapeutic agent to treat cardiovascular disorders and in the prevention of disease whether someone has had a heart attack or not, said David M. Capuzzi, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Program at Thomas Jefferson Universitys Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine and corresponding author of the study.
Dr. Capuzzi said XZK had very few side effects, including no abnormal blood changes.
SOURCE: American Journal of Cardiology, 2008;published online April 14
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