Warning: Chinese Diet Pills May Contain Traces Of Danger

Updated

Below is an article from Stephanie Marcus, who has done some research into the recently popular Chinese Diet Pills. They go by several names including Fruta Planta and Yctpahehhe Ahwhero Beca...

Sasha Fernandez lost four pounds in one week with no stringent diet or lengthy cardio sessions. She's not a cheesy actress on a late night infomercial, but the 21-year-old customer service rep from South Florida is on a quest to ditch 15 pounds. Her method of choice: an allegedly "all natural" over-the-counter diet pill imported from China.

Sasha wants results fast. She doesn't care that the Chinese pills likely aren't as organic or "herbal" as they claim. She knows her weight loss could be coming from unregulated prescription drugs posing as the above. "There might be something else in there that's not listed," she says of the mysterious ingredients.

Jessica, a 21-year-old from Dallas, who didn't want give her last name, is another popper of the pills. "Obviously it's not natural even if they say so," she says. The college student admits she's had trouble sleeping since she started taking them, adding: "It does worry me, but I ignore it. I have no idea what is in them."

These pills " known as Chinese "slim capsules," found online or in downmarket stores " are fast becoming the new drug of choice among plenty of desperate dieters looking for an easy way to lose some weight. Users report incredible results from these "herbal supplements," which experts say might be tainted with dangerous chemicals.

Pills, powders and teas like Pai You Guo, Reduce Weight Fruta Planta, Super Slim, and 2 Day Diet promise you'll shed pounds fast; typically imported from China, Japan and Hong Kong, they can be purchased on the Internet for as low as $4.99 for a month's supply. Amazon seller Japan 2 Day Ling Zhi Diet has filled more than 7,400 orders in the past year for weight-loss pills, and almost all of them appear on an FDA warning list.

Many of the promotional materials are so poorly translated that they're almost unintentionally poetic. Pai You Guo is one of the more popular brands of imported Chinese diet pills. Indications on boxes say it can "reduce weight, blunt of the smooth bowel, the face beauty, function a type the result is quick, taking effect on that day the fruit augment." Pai You Guo bears the following list of ingredients: "evil powder of low gather the sugar... apple withdraws the thing, vitamin c, vitamin e, vitamin b2 is raw material." The maker of the drug is identified as "Make a medicine industry group company living produce the be in gon jui the living creature development limited company (stationed business enterprise of GMP.) total distribution: medicine of gon jui health care limited company. Address 105 number of the north of ganjui in ganjui city."

With that marketing strategy, it's surprising sales are taking off " then again, customer satisfaction is high. Medical experts hawk it to an appetite suppressant called sibutramine, the pharmaceutical name for Meridia, currently legally prescribed to some 294,000 Americans. For the last two years, the FDA has issued warnings that the pills have been found to contain sibutramine and other drugs such as fluoxetine, the active ingredient in Prozac, and phenolphthalein, a supposed cancer-causing laxative ingredient that has been banned.

The FDA recalled Pai You Guo as a dietary supplement last November, labeling the product unsafe because it contained illegal doses of sibutramine. The organization said the suppressant is known to "substantially increase blood pressure and/or pulse rate in some patients and may present a significant risk for patients with a history of coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, arrhythmia or stroke."

Two months later, the European Medicines Agency recommended that sibutramine be removed from European markets following the only long-term study ever conducted on a weight-loss drug. Here in the states, the FDA has stopped short of calling for a ban on prescription sibutramine instead choosing only to add to the warning label. Over-the-counter imported diet pills that may contain sibutramine don't list it on the label.

Meanwhile, the Health Research Group at Public Citizen has twice petitioned the FDA since 2002 to totally ban sibutramine after a number of Americans under the age of 30 died. Wolfe's findings report 84 deaths in patients prescribed sibutramine. FDA Press Officer Tom Gasparoli says more products tainted with prescription drugs are showing up in the U.S. marketplace, calling it an "escalating issue" that the FDA takes "very seriously." Gasparoli said in an e-mail that the FDA is committed to identifying and removing dangerous products from the market. "However, unfortunately, it is not possible for FDA to test and identify all tainted products."

But none of that seems to matter to ladies of We Love Diet Pills!, a 2,600-member strong Live Journal community, made up of mostly teenage girls and young women (Sasha and Jessica are both members) who discuss in graphic detail their progress in attempting the latest waist-whittling flavor-of-the-week. Fruta Planta " or FP as it's often referred to " is definitely the crowd favorite with members hoping their Amazon purchase is tainted with sibutramine. Yes, hoping despite common complaints of insomnia, and both members of the Live Journal community and Amazon reviewers report a wide array of other side effects like nausea, dizziness, acne, constipation, dry mouth.

Not that they seem to mind.

Last week, a Live Journal-ist named "well-padded" updated the forum on her progress: "Sorry about the long delay! But after the craziness of my best friend having a surprise baby I finally have decided to get back into taking fruta planta again. My car is currently in need of work, but soon here I will be ordering new pills ... To keep you all posted, I started this journey at 170 and ended it a month later at 155. =D it was awesome!"

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Article Reprinted With Permission From:
http://crushable.com/other-stuff/warning-chinese-diet-pills-may-contain-traces-of-danger/

13 Replies

Earliest Newest Votes
1

Thank you for all the information, we have had many questions about these products and if there are dangers involved, people should be made aware of such!

Does anyone else have anything to add?

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2

Yeah I used to find these on Amazon but it looks like they took some of the product pages down (even though they came up on search results). I wonder if the FDA will be doing a crack down?

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3

As to crackdowns, I believe they've already tried, in the capacity that they can anyway.

Since doing such things and importing them into the U.S. is illegal. The only other thing they can rely on is hoping customs starts catching the orders.

However, there will always be someone, somewhere that gets their hands on it.

I am just really glad we had someone post the information, because we've had a lot of people posting and asking about these pills.

Has anyone actually purchased these?

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4

okay so Pai you Guo has sibutramine--but does fruta planta?

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5

Joey, I'd recommend checking out a couple of the related discussion threads, as they might be able to help answer your questions.

http://www.prescriptiondrug-info.com/threads/Sibutramine-in-Fruta-Planta-weight-loss-pills-D77254.htm

http://www.prescriptiondrug-info.com/topics/fruta-planta/

Hope this helps!

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6

i just started taking them and they are wonderful! no side effects and i sleep like a baby and curb my appetite but still allows me to eat when need to i just dont feel like aeting alot i do have more enrgy and it doesnt give u that way up then down low feeling like phentermine, i will try for whole month and see sorry u folks arent doing well there is over 300 replies with others on green and white pill comments

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7

Hahaha I love how they do a shout out to the livejournal community (of which I am a member). LOVE IT!!!

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8

Be very careful of this pill...after only taking it for 2 weeks I felt like I almost had to go to da hospital...I couldn't eat or drink anything for 2 days..I couldn't drive or talk or think right..something jus felt really wrong. I will never take these pills again.

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9

I started taking these pills almost 3 weeks ago.

I definitely have the dry mouth, constipation started at 2 weeks in (easily remedied with some prunes). I don't sleep much at all, though I don't feel tired.

I have to force myself to eat because I have no appetite whatsoever. I do feel more energy, sometimes I do have very minor heart palpitations- which I've had after too much coffee too.

However, I don't feel I've lost any significant amount of weight that I couldn't lose without the pills. In these 3 weeks, I've lost only 5 pounds.

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10

I used Fruta planta for almost a month and i started getting sick the first two weeks with vomit, headache, dizziness and i stop using it. I would not recomend this pill not matter if you are my enemy. Go do some exersice if you want to live.

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11

I have only used these green and white capsule for 3 days and already experiencin bad symptoms. Like heart rate has picked up abit. Dry mouth and then by the third day sliht dizziness.I haven't slept well for the 3nights either. I only discoveredafter these effects how BAD THESE PILLS ARE. There is no print on the capsules, so i guess they ARE FAKE! Please do not buy them.South Africa !

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12

i had already pay paiyoyji natural slimming capsule from bahrain with almost 50 us dollar or more & i take one today & i feel like i will goone to die or like iam get poisoned i read what above but i already take sibutramine. before for two years 15 mlgram daily & ia had a wonderful body shape now i stop from 2 years & i become 110 kg weight & 170 cm & 28 years old i dont know if this capsules i bought can kill me ??? or i can use it daily for month or more to help me to get slim please answer me thanks soo much

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13

hi what was the name on the box?

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