TITLE:
Exploring the Role of Nutraceuticals (Red Yeast Rice) in Secondary Prevention: A New Pathway Can Be Opened
AUTHORS:
Santiago de Dios, Eduardo Fernandez Carrion, Javier Antona Makoshi, Juan Jose Parra Fuertes, Hector Fleites, Eduardo Zatarain, Jose Luis Zamorano Gomez
KEYWORDS:
Lipids, Nutraceuticals, Coronary Artery Disease, Secondary Prevention
JOURNAL NAME:
World Journal of Cardiovascular Diseases,
Vol.12 No.1,
January
21,
2022
ABSTRACT: Background:Long-term survival in acute coronary syndrome has increased steadily in the last decades. Follow-up studies developed in this patient clearlyreveal that they are at risk of suffering a new event, placing them in a newstage, secondary prevention. Assuming this increased risk, the control target of their cardiovascular risk factors become more ambitious. In this field, control of Cholesterol levels, particularly LDL-C, hasarisen as a priority objectivein patients with coronary arterial disease. In this sense, management of dyslipidemia guidelines, recently recognisesthe role of functional food, highlighting among them is the Red Yeast Rice (RYR). The aim of the study is to establishthe potential role of functional food, in secondary prevention,while determining its additional capacity to reduce LDL-C in patients that despite optimalclassic treatment (maximum tolerated dose of stain plus Ezetimibe) isstill out of control objectives. Results and Discussion: 88 patients were included and after 3 months of treatment with RYR, their lipid profiles werecompared with the baseline. The variation of T-Col, LDL-C and Trig were statistically significant. A reduction in LDL-C was 10.73 mg/dL, which means a 10.93% of additional reduction over the standard therapy the patients were receiving. Concerningsecurity, no relevant side effects were reported when adding RYR, even in arelevant percentage (35.4%),myalgia disappeared (especially when reducing the titrating dose of the statin). Conclusion: AddingRYR insecondary preventionpatients in combination with the usual treatment, seems to be an effective alternative to optimize LDL levels and thus getscloser to the target set in the guidelines, without adding relevant side effects, and even improving tolerance to the statins.