NATURAL REMEDIES BEING PUT TO THE TEST IN NIH STUDIES.

Byline: Phil Davis Staff Writer

Ancient herbalists have long looked to an extract of Chinese Red Yeast Rice to improve circulation.

But even after thousands of years of use, no one knows exactly how or why it works.

This old mystery is one of many that Dr. Vay Liang Go and his colleagues at

the University of California, Los Angeles, will tackle as part of a $15 million National Institutes of Health project to advance scientific understanding of herbal medicines such as green tea, echinacea, St. John's wort and other dietary supplements used by an estimated one in five Americans.

``Our role is basically to advance the scientific knowledge and to look at the safety, effectiveness and biological activity of these compounds,'' Go said.

Christine Swanson, program director of the NIH's dietary-supplements program, said the $15 million in grants to be split evenly between UCLA and the University of Illnois, Chicago, will establish the first two of a planned eight national centers to study natural products.

``It's the first federally funded study in this area,'' Swanson said. ``Congress was concerned that there wasn't enough research being done in the area of dietary supplements, and there's been an explosive growth in the industry and the number of people using these products.''

The five-year NIH study conducted at UCLA promises not only to help unravel the molecular mysteries of herbal medicines but also to put the health claims of America's $1.5 billion dietary-supplement market to the test.

``We're starting by comparing the products out there,'' Go said. ``If the manufacturer says the product contains XYZ biologically active compound, we want to make sure it's there.''

The results, while not conclusive, already show that not all brands of the popular herbal cold remedy echinacea are equally effective. The research should also determine if herbal remedies are more effective when eaten as food, or if the compounds should be isolated and used in pill form.

One of Go's projects will be the further study of Chinese Red Yeast Rice, an extract made by pulverizing rice fermented with red yeast. The circulation enhancer also happens to give Peking duck its unique flavor and red color. It also can be used to make rice wine and to preserve food.

In February, Go and his colleagues published a report in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that found Cholestin, the market name for an American version of the extract, lowered cholesterol by 22 percent. The study suggests the supplement somehow blocks the body's production of artery-clogging cholesterol, an important finding considering heart disease is America's No. 1 killer.

``We know it can lower blood cholesterol,'' Go said of the ancient remedy. ``Now we want to understand why it works that way.''