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Report Highlights Risks Of Brazilian Diet Pills

Posted on: Wednesday, 7 January 2009, 14:36 CST

The potentially dangerous health risks associated with the use of imported Brazilian-made prescription diet pills were highlighted in a new report by Harvard Medical School researchers.

The pills, which combine amphetamines and other prescription drugs like antidepressants and anti-anxiety agents, are banned in the U.S., but are readily available over the Internet. 

The report was authored by Massachusetts-based internist Dr. Pieter A. Cohen from the Cambridge Health Alliance and Harvard Medical School, who became concerned about use of the pills after many patients experiencing unexplained chest pain and other symptoms, according to a Cambridge Alliance statement. Some of these patients ultimately admitted using the imported diet pills.

In his report, Cohen described a 26-year-old woman who had visited her doctor several times complaining of chest pain, headaches, palpitations, nausea, fatigue and insomnia -- all symptoms that began shortly after she started taking Brazilian-made diet pills in an effort to lose weight after the birth of her daughter.

Benzodiazepines (anti-anxiety drugs) and amphetamines (stimulants) were detected in her urine, and researchers found the anti-anxiety drug chlordiazepoxide and the stimulant fenproporex, which is banned in the U.S., in her diet pills.

The woman’s symptoms disappeared when she stopped taking the pills after having lost 30 pounds. However, she said she still experienced cravings for the pills, and resumed taking them again after she began to regain some of her lost weight. Her symptoms subsequently returned.

Cohen described another patient, a 38-year-old municipal truck driver who took the imported diet pills, who was suspended from work upon testing positive for amphetamine on a routine occupational drug test. Both Fenproporex and the antidepressant Prozac (fluoxetine) were found in his pills.  The patient had experienced insomnia and palpitations while taking the pills, and reported losing 12 pounds in 2 weeks.

Cohen said both patients had acquired the pills from an acquaintance, and in each case another patient’s name was written on the vials.  A physician and pharmacist were also named on the vials, along with a regional council of pharmacists' license number.

"Since the pills are prescribed by physicians, some people assume they must be safe," said Cohen in a statement.

"In fact, since the labels are misleading, people have no idea what dangerous cocktail of medications they are actually using."

Cohen said that prescriptions for "compounded" diet pills are typically obtained from doctors in private practices in Brazil.  These physicians often market themselves as obesity experts, but "none of the medications included in these diet pills are indicated for the treatment of obesity according to commonly accepted practice guidelines."

Cohen’s report was published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, December 2008.

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On the Net:

• Harvard Medical School
• Cambridge Health Alliance
• Journal of General Internal Medicine

Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports

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