Since the FDA doesn’t monitor supplements, it’s easy for companies to put whatever they want in the product in order to increase their sales. As someone who has been in the fitness industry for close to a decade; I have seen people use every kind of pill imaginable to shed the weight. Not only are people buying these pills in huge amounts, they are also taking them in huge doses. This form of “Legal Crack” has the ability to break your body down at a rapid pace much like meth does. Since every one’s bodies are different, the “recommended dose” for one person, might send another through the roof. Yet, Americans are dying to be thin without putting forth the effort to change their lives. In this case a woman taking the ever popular, Hydroxycut product went into kidney failure.
The controversial supplement contains green tea and an African herbal supplement already banned in Europe, but not in the U.S.
After the recall, Americans from around the country who suffered liver damage from the product filed lawsuits against the company.
The product remains on the shelf and Hydroxycut said the FDAnever concluded which ingrediant was causing the liver damage.
“No ingredient was identified as having a causal connection to liver concerns; nevertheless, out of an abundance of caution, all of the product’s herbal ingredients and extracts have been replaced in the new formulation of Hydroxycut Advanced,” said in a statement released earlier this month to New York’s WCBS.
Flor Mendoza told CBS2Chicago.com she became sick while taking the drug (source).
“I felt nauseous and I felt tired,” she said.
Mendoza is now has a new liver.
“A 31-year-old healthy woman, a mother of three children, who took Hydroxycut products for two and a half months, is in liver failure,” said Mendoza’s attorney Bob Kreisman.
Kreisman sued both the seller and manufacturer after doctors concluded Mendoza needed a new liver. She received a transplant several weeks later. Two other suits have been filed in Texas on behalf of users.
While losing weight can help you live a longer, fuller life; taking supplements that harm your body could put you in the hospital. The true way to a healthier body is through diet and exercise. There is no “magic” pill that can keep the weight off.
Adria Ali
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