Weight Loss Everyday

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently ordered the recall of 2 dietary supplements: Zhen De Shou Fat Loss Capsules, which contain the appetite-suppressing prescription-drug sibutramine, and Starcaps Diet System, which contains the prescription-only diuretic bumetanide.

One way for a company to be sure that its over-the-Internet weight-loss supplement will be successful is to secretly and illegally add a prescription drug that is known to cause weight loss.

Though no adverse effects to consumers have yet been reported from taking either of these dietary supplements, the sibutramine used in the Zhen De Shou Fat Loss Capsules can raise blood pressure and pulse rate, and thus pose a risk for people with coronary heart disease, an abnormal heart rhythm, heart failure, or a history of prior stroke.

In addition, please note that any weight loss resulting from taking bumetanide or any other diuretic is due only to a loss of water, and not to any decrease in fat stores—the true goal of weight loss.

Finally, both of these drugs can interact unfavorably with other medications.

I am not writing about the recall of these 2 supplements because I believe that many, or even any, readers are taking these “weight loss” capsules. Rather, my goal is to emphasize once more the dangers of taking any dietary supplements that don’t need FDA oversight. There simply is no way to ensure that such unregulated pills are both safe and effective. These 2 supplements are only the latest ones found to contain prescription drugs or to be contaminated with heavy metals.

Likewise, the 0.8 mg of bumetanide that’s hidden in each Starcaps capsule—that’s 30 percent more than what is present in the lowest prescribed bumetanide pill—also poses a health risk to consumers. Bumetanide is a potent diuretic that causes such excessive loss of fluids and minerals that a person can experience the muscle cramps and dizziness associated with low blood pressure.