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THE MIRACLE INGREDIENT IN CHINESE FOOD

Peking Duck: Miracle cure?

Tuesday June 10,2008

By Victoria Fletcher

Comment Speech Bubble Have your say(6)

A MIRACLE cure for cancer and heart disease has been discovered in Chinese food, scientists revealed last night.

An extract of red yeast rice, which gives Peking duck its distinctive colour, may cut cancer deaths by two-thirds and heart disease by a third.

The compound could now be developed into a new treatment, saving millions of lives.

One scientist involved in the study on thousands of patients described the results yesterday as “profound”.

It is important to recognise we do not know exactly how Chinese red yeast rice works

Dr David Capuzzi

The health benefits from the extract, which has been used in Chinese medicine for a thousand years, even out-performed cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins.

When given to heart disease patients, researchers found that it reduced their chances of a repeat heart attack by 45 per cent.

It also cut the need to undergo bypass surgery or artery treatment by a third. Although the study focused mainly on 5,000 patients suffering from heart disease in China, the numbers of cancer deaths were also recorded.

Each day patients took either two 300 milligram capsules of a partially purified extract of a red yeast rice preparation xuezhikang (XZK) or a placebo. Their progress was compared for five years.

Dr David Capuzzi, who co-led the study, said: “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.

“It is important to recognise we do not know exactly how Chinese red yeast rice works.

“Still the results were so profound, even out-performing statins prescribed in numerous western populations, that further study should certainly be investigated.”

Doctors currently prescribe statins for heart disease, Britain’s biggest killer, to prevent a build-up of fatty deposits in the arteries.

Red yeast rice has been used in China for thousands of years as a preservative and as a herbal medicine for 1,000 years.

It is the colouring ingredient used widely in Chinese food and is found in pickled tofu, Peking duck and some types of red-coloured Japanese sake. The rice is fermented by adding a red yeast, monascus purpureus, with alcohol before removing the rice gluten.

Used medicinally, it has been known to improve blood circulation and aid digestion.

The rice is popular in the Far East where locals are thought to eat between 14 to 55 grams of it a day.

However, this is still 10 times lower than that given in pill-form to patients in the trial.

Dr Capuzzi, director of the cardiovascular disease prevention program at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, led the study with Dr Zonliang Lu, from the Chinese Academy of Medical Science, in Beijing.

Their findings were reported yesterday in the American Journal of Cardiology.

However, Dr Capuzzi said the capsules used in the study were carefully prepared for the research and are not the same as red yeast rice supplements available in health food stores.

Last night doctors warned people against taking large amounts of the rice over fears that too much can cause liver damage.

Anyone with heart problems are advised not to take the product without talking to their doctor first.

WILL I BE REFUSED NHS TREATMENT

11.06.08, 1:43am

Beware, PUBLIC HEALTH WARNING: eating Peking Duck from Chinese take-aways could exclude you from any future NHS treatment for heart disease as it could be classed as private treatment.
Must stop chemists selling any treatment as it could be classed as private treatment, there should be a ban on GP's refusing prescriptions and telling people to purchase treatments from a chemist. The goverment must stop telling us what to eat or not to eat as this is no different.

• Posted by: CAN • Report Comment

RED YEAST RICE CONTAINS LOVASTATIN

10.06.08, 4:27pm

The findings on heart disease are not very surprising. Red yeast rice contains lovastatin - a cholesterol lowering drug. Unfortunately the full scientific paper is only available to print subscribers of the American Journal of Cardiology at present but from the information provided in the abstract the researchers have not proved that the extract of red yeast rice used was "more effective than statins" because they didn't compare it with a statin, just with a placebo. It may be more effective, it may be safer and it may be cheaper but we don't know yet.

What we can say is that going out and eating a lot of Chinese take-aways and Peking Duck in the hope of protecting ourselves against heart disease is going to be counterproductive - all that fat and salt in the take-aways will do more harm!

Re the cancer claim - just too early to say.

• Posted by: ClareE • Report Comment

AWAIT PRICE HIKE

10.06.08, 11:01am

Gosh! this story hit the news yesterday and the government have not put a tax on it yet

• Posted by: flubber • Report Comment

MIRACLE INGREDIENT

10.06.08, 10:42am

For heaven's sake don't let Brown/Darling or N.I.C.E. hear about it. Brown/Darling will tax it and N.I.C.E. (or GOD as they are known) will ban it!

• Posted by: RichardMac • Report Comment

TOTALLY AGREE WITH MARIGOLD

10.06.08, 10:33am

If it is a miracle cure, then it is good news for people who have hereditary, cancer and heart problems .

• Posted by: sophialoren2 • Report Comment

ITS ONE MIRACLE CURE AFTER ANOTHER !

10.06.08, 9:21am

Nothing beats the balanced diet consisting of a wide range of foods.
Small portions
Lots of exercise
Cut the crisps, biscuits, fizzy pop.
Limit alcohol.

This "miracle food" will not help unless above is adhered to !

• Posted by: marigold • Report Comment