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The Journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health, Vol. 122, No. 4, 213-219 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/146642400212200407

Risks associated with herbal slimming remedies

C Corns

Department of Biochemistry, Southend Hospital NHS Trust, Prittlewell Chase, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex SS0 0RY, England, cathryn.corns{at}southend.nhs.uk

K Metcalfe

Department of Medicine, Southend Hospital NHS Trust, Prittlewell Chase, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex SS0 0RY, England

The market for non-conventional, natural herbal medicines is growing. This marketing opportunity has been seized upon by some unscrupulous practitioners to sell potentially unsafe ‘herbal’ products. Several people attended a Chinese herbalist for weight loss advice and were sold ‘herbal’ preparations that contained fenfluramine, a drug which was withdrawn from sale in the West in 1997 after its use was linked to primary pulmonary hypertension and valvular heart disease. Adulteration of Chinese medicines with Western drugs is becoming an increasing problem, and deaths have been reported from Japan and other Far Eastern countries linked to Chinese slimming aids containing N-nitroso-fenfluramine.

There is a need for increased public awareness of such risks associated with the use of unlicensed medicines; a system of registration for medical herbalists is also required to protect both the reputable practitioners and the general public.

Key Words: Adulteration of herbal preparations • Chinese herbal medicine • fenfluramine • herbs • slimming


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