The Philippine Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned about several slimming or anti-obesity pills which may contain harmful ingredients to health.
The FDA has monitored several slimming or anti-obesity pills, particularly the Hokkaido Slimming Pills, which are advertised and sold online. These products may contain harmful ingredients to health.
According to the FDA, from 2010 to 2012, the agency has issued the recall, seizure, and ban of at least 26 slimming products which contain amphetamine, sibutramine, and steroids. These products were being marketed as oral capsules or as a coffee drinks.
The following are the FDA-banned slimming products:
- Ballet Dancer Fat Reducing
- Bio-Lissom Fat Reducing
- Brazilian Slimming Coffee
- Cell Life Slimming Coffee
- Elegant Shape Fat Reducing
- Goodliness Fat Reducing
- Happyslim
- Hokkaido Slimming Pills
- Leisure 18 Slimming Coffee
- Lightness Fat Reducing
- Maggie Fitness Essence
- Mei Shen Ting Anti-Obesity
- Modeling Fat-Reducing
- New Original Lightness Fat-Reducing
- Pearl White Slimming
- Perfect Figure Slimming
- Perfect Slim Fat Reduction Cosmetic
- Perfect Slim Purely Natural Fat Reduction Cosmetic
- Pill for Weight Reduction
- Pretty Model
- Qiaomei Fat Binder
- Qi Xian Nu
- Seven Days Miracle
- Shaping Body Fat Loss
- Slim and Beauty Slimming
- Slim Up Extra Whitening and Reducing
- Xianzimei Fat Reduction
The FDA warned that amphetamine intake causes irregular heartbeat, confusion, urine retention and painful urination, hyperthermia, hyperreflexia, muscle pain, severe agitation, rapid breathing, and tremor. While an overdose may cause psychosis, anuria, cardiogenic shock, cerebral hemorrhage, circulatory collapse, extreme fever, pulmonary hypertension, renal failure, rapid muscle breakdown, serotonin syndrome, and stereotypy. Fatal amphetamine poisoning usually causes convulsion and coma.
Also, FDA cited a study that sibutramine intake can increase the risk of serious heart events, including non-fatal heart attack or non-fatal stroke and death, by 16%. The study also showed that there was only a small difference in weight loss between the placebo group and the sibutramine group.
FDA advised all consumers to use only FDA-approved slimming pills or anti-obesity drugs under the supervision of doctors.
The FDA also urged local government units and enforcement agencies to close down outlets and establishments that sell the banned or unregistered health products. Likewise, the FDA has appealed to the Bureau of Customs to prevent the entry of the banned slimming products.
The FDA advised the public to not buy unregistered and banned health products especially through the Internet. To check if a product is registered with the FDA, log on to the FDA website www.fda.gov.ph and type in the name of the product in the SEARCH bar. Meanwhile, the agency also urged the public to report any unregistered or banned health products to report@fda.gov.ph.
