The promises of the “appetite inhibitors” of the Garcinia Cambogia, including reducing “fat storage” or reducing “hunger”, hide serious and possibly fatal side effects observed in several countries, according to what the French health authorities warned.
In a memorandum published on Wednesday, the French National Health Safety Authority advised all the French not to consume this plant in light of an analysis of a deadly state of acute hepatitis in France and a large number of severe effects that appeared in France, as well as in Italy, the United States, Canada and Korea in particular, even in people who do not have satisfactory precedents.
Despite the prohibition of the use of gum -gum plant (or dates of Indian dates) in medicines since 2012, this plant is still used in “nutritional supplements” to lose weight. About 340 species are sold, most of them online.
Indeed, 38 cases of side effects were recorded in France between 2009 and March 2024, including liver disorders, mental disorders, digestive disorders (pancreatitis) and heart and muscle disorders, often serious.
These effects can affect the precedents of mental disorders, pancreatitis and liver, or suffer from diabetes, obesity, or high blood pressure, according to the National Food Safety Agency. It can also affect people who take antidepressants, antiviral drugs, or medications known for their effect on liver function.
In Italy, for example, a woman died in 45 due to acute hepatitis, who had taken a nutritional supplement based on gums while treating asthma with a drug known for its effect on liver function.
However, similar serious effects may also increase due to the pharmaceutical reactions of consumers who do not have satisfactory precedents, according to the French body.
European ban?
“A 32 -year -old woman has no pathological precedents that have caused myocarditis, prompting her to undergo a heart transplant,” the head of the Nutrition Risk Evaluation Unit.
“Some people may say (I have eaten it and everything is fine). Fortunately for their luck. But we see through these few cases that the people who were seeking to lose weight and found that their health was seriously deteriorated, or even died as a result of eating this plant.”
The official in the Food Safety Authority said that “the matter is not worth risking this type of severe negative effects.”
European systems currently do not oppose the use of health allegations (weight control, reduction of fat storage, hunger, control of blood sugar levels and cholesterol …) that the manufacturers of nutritional supplements based on gum -gum, but are under review by the European Food Safety Authority.
The European Authority also began to strengthen the risks associated with the intake of hydroxy secreke acid found in the fruits of this plant, which is the substance to which slimming properties are attributed.
This evaluation may lead to the European Commission to take a decision to restrict this article or even prohibit it.
The French Commission hoped to see the light in Europe the lists that define the plants allowed to be used in nutritional supplements, as well as the restrictions and warnings that govern their use, which have not yet been unified at the European Union level.
She reminded that “weight loss without medical advice involves risks, especially when a person follows unbalanced and unusual eating habits.”
As the authority does not possess the health police powers, the potential ban on the products that depend on the gum -gum should be issued by the French Ministry of Agriculture. But this ministry answered an inquiry from the French Press Agency that it cannot “at this stage” take any position on the issue.