The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expanding its alert to consumers regarding contaminated weight loss pills. About 70 such pills are on the list because they contain undeclared active pharmaceutical ingredients, such as anti-seizure medications, diuretics, and even drugs not approved to be marketed in the US. These weight loss products, some of which are marketed as “dietary supplements,” are promoted and sold on various web sites and in retail stores. Some claim to be “natural” or to contain only “herbal” ingredient, but actually contain potentially harmful ingredients not listed on the labels or in advertisements. These products have not been approved by the FDA, are illegal and may be potentially harmful to unsuspecting consumers. Anyone who has used these products should stop taking them. If you are contemplating purchasing weight loss products, please consult your health care professional first.
See the list of contaminated products and share your opinion.


Dr. Steven Chang, the author of DailyDose, is a staff physician with Kosmix RightHealth. Dr. Chang practices Family Medicine at the University of California Davis Medical Center, where his medical interests include both pediatric and geriatric care, public health, gay and lesbian health, and sleep medicine. Dr. Chang trained at the Stanford University affiliated O'Connor Hospital, and was a research fellow at the National Institute of Health. He holds an M.D. from McGill University and a BA in Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.
March 24th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Read about the weight loss pills …. how do we know what pills are approved and what pills are not ? My wife just purchased some called Apatrim, that say they are clinically tested with a US patent #. Is there a web site that we can go to?
Thanking you in advance for you help on this matter.
James Ranney
March 24th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
Yes, there’s a link at the bottom of the post that will take you to the FDA website which has a list of the recalled medications.
April 15th, 2009 at 5:00 am
If you ever want to hear a reader’s feedback
, I rate this article for four from five. Decent info, but I just have to go to that damn yahoo to find the missed pieces. Thank you, anyway!
April 21st, 2009 at 1:05 pm
…Very intresting Post thank you very much
April 27th, 2009 at 3:11 am
Enjoying reading your blog. Hard work always pays off.