Consumer Alert: Slimming Beauty Bitter Orange Slimming Capsules
So good they had to name it “slimming” twice.
Unfortunately, Slimming Beauty contains the active pharmaceutical ingredient sibutramine (Meridia), a stimulant. And the marketer, Beautiful Health Inc., formerly LL Health and Beauty, failed to list it among the ingredients on the label.
Slimming Beauty could harm users, especially those with cardiovascular conditions, because it can lead to elevated blood pressure, stroke, and heart attack.
Consumers who are otherwise healthy and who take the amount of sibutramine found in Slimming Beauty capsules can experience anxiety, nausea, heart palpitations, a racing heart, insomnia, and elevated blood pressure. Sibutramine also may interact with other medications and can cause serious side effects; 781 drugs are known to interact with silbutramine.
The bottom line?
As with other misbranded and misleading drugs, consumers should discontinue Slimming Beauty immediately.
Healthcare professionals and patients are encouraged to report adverse events or side effects related to the use of this product to the FDA’s MedWatch Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting.
Even as a prescription drug, sibutramine isn’t safe. Abbott Laboratories announced today that it will withdraw Meridia, which contains sibutramine, from the market because of concerns that it increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes.
Abbott will pull the drug from the Canadian and the Australian markets as well. It was removed from European markets in January 2010.
10/8/10 16:45 JR
