Fraudulent dietary supplements that gained popularity on TikTok as ‘natural' alternatives to weight loss drugs have been found to contain a deadly plant species.
The federal government issued a pair of warnings about products masquerading as herbal weight loss supplements that were actually made up entirely of yellow oleander, a shrub so deadly it has become a common form of self-harm in Sri Lanka.
The Food and Drug Administration called out two manufacturers of diet nut mixes labeled Nuez de la India, also known as a candlenut after a man in Maryland was hospitalized with yellow oleander poisoning.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, meanwhile, found that nine out of 10 products labeled as tejocote root and marketed as weight loss supplements, were pure yellow oleander after a toddler in New Jersey ate his mother's Eva Nutrition Mexican Tejocote Root and was poisoned.
Supplement manufacturers can often sidestep FDA oversight because the agency does not require manufacturers to prove ahead of time that their ingredients are safe and effective, allowing for a Wild West-type regulatory environment.
Authentic candlenuts can sometimes be mistaken for yellow oleander seedsThe Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tested 10 products reporting to contain tejocote root. Nine of them were made up entirely of yellow oleander, including the two brands shown
Weight loss supplements that purport to contain candlenut,
SCapsules Experience or Nuez de la India, were named in the FDA's warning after they were found to be poisonous
In the case of the Maryland patient, emergency department doctors did not know what was causing his nausea, slow heart rate, low blood pressure, and high blood level of potassium until poison control suggested yellow oleander to be the culprit.
These symptoms could indicate a wide range of possible diagnoses, from malfunctioning thyroid and kidney problems to heart attacks, and doctors have a hard time finding the underlying cause without a patient admitting to taking a questionable supplement.
Doctors in Texas recently detailed a similar poisoning case involving candlenuts. A 21-year-old woman went to the hospital with severe nausea and vomiting but clinical testing including X-rays and urinalysis appeared normal.