/oss/taxonomy/term/2594/all en /oss/article/drugs-food-you-asked/can-red-yeast-rice-reduce-cholesterol <p>When is a substance a food and when is it a drug? That may sound like a simple question but the answer can be complicated. Suppose you take some rice, inoculate it with a type of yeast, let it ferment for a while and then eat it directly, or use it to flavor some other dish. Everyone would agree that this is a food. After all, there is not much difference between this process and that used to make bread rise by adding yeast. But what if you let the yeast grow on the rice, mill the rice, put it into pills, and sell it as a cholesterol-lowering supplement? Is that still a food?</p> Tue, 06 Nov 2012 17:11:17 +0000 Joe Schwarcz PhD 1748 at /oss