HERBAL PHEN-FEN
Report #7265
The Food and Drug Administration warns you that HERBAL PHEN- FEN products have not been shown to help people lose weight and may be harmful to your health.
For the last five years, several drugs classified as Phen-fen have helped people lose a tremendous amount of weight. However, the Food and Drug Administration has pulled two of the drugs, fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine, because they may be associated with heart and lung damage. Three of the drugs, phentermine, phendimetrazine and mazindol, have not been associated with lung or heart damage and are still on the market, but the public is wary and food supplement manufacturers have come out with products collectively sold as herbal phen-fen that contain none of the phen-fen drugs. The manufacturers claim that they can sell their products because they are foods that are not controlled by the Food and Drug Administration. However, the name, herbal phen-fen implies that the product contains the phen-fen drugs that help people to lose weight and they do not, and most contain ephedrine and St. John's wort, that have not been shown to be safe or effective in helping people to lose weight. Ephedrine is available without a prescription and can cause high blood pressure, heart palpitations, headaches and insomnia.
By Gabe Mirkin, M.D., for CBS Radio News
Reported 11/9/97; see report #N117.