Fat Zero sounds like a safe, natural product, containing bee pollen and other ingredients like green tea and lotus seed. But it also contains sibutramine, a prescription diet drug that was so dangerous it’s been pulled off the U.S. market, the Food and Drug Administration says.
The FDA issued warnings about a batch of similar slimming products – all claiming to be natural, and all containing not only sibutramine, but phenolphthalein, a laxative that’s also been pulled out of pills because it might cause cancer.
From the FDA:
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is advising consumers not to purchase or use Fat Zero, a product promoted and sold for weight loss on various websites and in some retail stores.
FDA laboratory analysis confirmed that Fat Zero contains sibutramine. Sibutramine is a controlled substance that was removed from the market in October 2010 for safety reasons. The product poses a threat to consumers because sibutramine is known to substantially increase blood pressure and/or pulse rate in some patients and may present a significant risk for patients with a history of coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, arrhythmias, or stroke. This product may also interact, in life-threatening ways, with other medications a consumer may be taking.
Laboratory analysis also confirmed that Fat Zero contains phenolphthalein. Phenolphthalein was an ingredient in some over-the-counter (OTC) laxative products until 1999 when FDA reclassified the ingredient as “not generally recognized as safe and effective.”
