Weight-Loss Aids Bought on Internet Might Harm Your Heart
HealthDay is reporting that pills and supplements have potentially dangerous ingredients and lack warning labels, according to a new study.
Weight-loss supplements widely available for purchase online often include ingredients that are potentially hazardous to your heart. According to and a new study shows the labels often don't include this warning.
The study was presented at the Heart Rhythm Society's annual meeting.
Researchers reviewed the ingredients of 12 different brands of weight-loss supplements. They found the brands by entering the common search terms "diet pills" and "weight-loss supplements" into popular Internet search engines.
Next, they made a list of the ingredients on each label. In all, there were 60 different ingredients, for an average of 7.25 ingredients per bottle. Most were herbal extracts, while others were minerals, vitamins and other substances.
Then the researchers scoured medical databases to find out if there was any significant association between the ingredients and cardiac problems.
They identified 11 ingredients with at least one report of life-threatening cardiac side effects. Eight of the 12 brands contained a potentially hazardous ingredient.
To their surprise, the researchers found one brand included ma huang, also known as Chinese ephedra, even though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned it in 2004.
The other ingredients that may be potentially dangerous to the heart included: bitter orange, Camellia sinensis, green tea, buckwheat, guarana, Korean ginseng, licorice root, Synephrine HCl, caffeine anhydrous and citrus aurantium.
According to experts, these substances become even more dangerous when people combine these products with coffee or other caffeine-containing drinks, which affect the heart even more.
HealthDay
NIH
Weight-loss supplements widely available for purchase online often include ingredients that are potentially hazardous to your heart. According to and a new study shows the labels often don't include this warning.
The study was presented at the Heart Rhythm Society's annual meeting.
Researchers reviewed the ingredients of 12 different brands of weight-loss supplements. They found the brands by entering the common search terms "diet pills" and "weight-loss supplements" into popular Internet search engines.
Next, they made a list of the ingredients on each label. In all, there were 60 different ingredients, for an average of 7.25 ingredients per bottle. Most were herbal extracts, while others were minerals, vitamins and other substances.
Then the researchers scoured medical databases to find out if there was any significant association between the ingredients and cardiac problems.
They identified 11 ingredients with at least one report of life-threatening cardiac side effects. Eight of the 12 brands contained a potentially hazardous ingredient.
To their surprise, the researchers found one brand included ma huang, also known as Chinese ephedra, even though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration banned it in 2004.
The other ingredients that may be potentially dangerous to the heart included: bitter orange, Camellia sinensis, green tea, buckwheat, guarana, Korean ginseng, licorice root, Synephrine HCl, caffeine anhydrous and citrus aurantium.
According to experts, these substances become even more dangerous when people combine these products with coffee or other caffeine-containing drinks, which affect the heart even more.
HealthDay
NIH
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