Our take

Red yeast rice can lower blood cholesterol. While the supplement is generally considered safe, it has the same potential side effects as prescription statin medicines used to treat high cholesterol.

Red yeast rice supplements are available without a prescription. But there's less of a guarantee about what's in a red yeast rice supplement compared with a statin. Some red yeast products might have only small amounts of monacolin K in them and might have little effect on cholesterol.