Endocrine Abstracts

Aim/background: The consumption of herbal weight-loss products sold over the Internet has rapidly increased, but the safety profile of these products has not been well known yet. Likewise, the declared ingredients in these products could be different than the marketed contents.

Material and Methods: Nine different herbal weight-loss products sold over the Internet were included. The content of each product were evaluated in the Laboratory of Forensic Medicine and the Scientific and Technological Research Laboratory of Inonu University.

Results: Even though analyzed weight-loss products were declared as pure herbal, three of them contain sibutramine, three contain caffeine, and three contain caffeine +temazepam. Sibutramine dosage in each capsule was found over 10 mg. We also measured toxic and trace element levels of nine herbal products and, we observed that these herbal products contain low amounts of Pb, Al, Ni and Ba.

Conclusions: Our results showed that herbal weight-loss products available without prescription and declared to be purely herbal may contain pharmaceutical substances like sibutramine or temazepam in high doses. Furthermore, they may also be contaminated with toxic metals. Without the suggestion or control of a physician, these products might cause various health problems that might be harmful. Strict legal rules and control mechanisms must be established to prevent their possible harmful effects.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This research did not receive any specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sector.