Iovate Pulls Hydroxycut Off Shelves After Death of Young Man
Posted by
Lauren DeckerMay 07, 2009 2:35 PMIf you’re like me, you may remember the first time you saw a Hydroxycut commercial on television – a blonde vision of beauty rising out of a pool, claiming that she was able to lose weight easily by just swallowing a little pill. I remember thinking to myself, “that seems to good to be true – there must be some kind of catch.”
Predictably, the Food and Drug Administration has recently confirmed there is a HUGE catch to Hydroxycut – liver damage. The FDA recently issued a recall for Hydroxycut products, manufactured and distributed by Iovate Health Sciences Inc., and urged consumers to immediately stop using the popular weight loss pill.
Adverse effects of Hydroxycut products include various levels of liver damage that range from elevated liver enzymes to damage serious enough to require a liver transplant. Signs of liver damage include jaundice, yellowing of the skin or the whites of your eyes, brown urine, nausea, vomiting, light-colored stools, excessive fatigue, weakness, stomach or abdominal pain, itching, and loss of appetite.
The recall came after 23 reports of serious injuries and the death of a 19-year-old man in 2007, which shockingly wasn’t reported to the FDA until March of this year.
Dr. Linda Katz, Interim Chief Medical Officer of the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, urges consumers to “discontinue use of Hydroxycut products in order to avoid any undue risks. Adverse events are rare, but exist. Consumers should consult a physician or other health care professional if they experience symptoms possibly associated with these products.”
According to the FDA, although serious liver damage is rare, patients who experience these symptoms took the dosage recommended on the product’s label.
Just last year, Iovate sold more than 9 million units of Hydroxycut products, distributed mainly to grocery stores, pharmacies, and health food stores.
Because Hydroxycut products contain a variety of ingredients and herbal extracts, the FDA has yet to determine the cause of the liver problems. But one thing that we have learned from this and other recalls is, if a weight loss drug seems too good to be true, it probably is.