Internet Purchased Weight Loss Aids May Risk Heart Health

A recent study focusing on the ingredient lists for weight loss drugs available over the Internet has produced alarming results.

Some weight loss aids may contain ingredients that are potentially harmful to the heart, but the labeling fails to divulge this information to consumers.

Of the ingredients in question, one has been on the banned ingredient list since 1994 for United States companies. These results, as well as others found in the study, are to be presented on Thursday to the participants of the annual Heart Rhythm Society meeting in San Diego California.

The study included 12 weight loss aids that were widely available for purchase on the Internet. The list was compiled using the most commonly searched weight loss related keywords. The search engines for Yahoo, Google and MSN were all utilized.

After compiling the list of 12 weight loss aids, the researchers listed all ingredients for each supplement. In total, 60 different ingredients were listed with an average of just over 7 per weight loss aid label. The majority of the ingredients fell into the herbal, vitamin and mineral lists.

The list was then compared to available research regarding possible heart interactions. Of the list, 11 were found to be directly related to heart effects with one such ingredient has a possible side effect that was life threatening to users.

The banned substance of most concern was ma huang, also known as Chinese ephedra. Bitter orange, Camellia sinensis, green tea, buckwheat, Korean ginseng, licorice root, Synephrine HCL, caffeine anhydrous and citrus aurantium are all known to pose possible heart related side effects. None of the labels with these ingredients offered a possible side effect warning.

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