Health Canada Warns Against Slimming Coffee

Drinking your way to a slimmer you sounds too good to be true and depending on the product you use it just may be.

On January 14, 2010, Health Canada issued a warning to consumers to discontinue use of the products “The Slimming Coffee” and “Lose Weight Coffee”. These natural health products were distributed by Gateway International of Ville Saint-Laurent, Québec and manufactured in China by MeiYa Technology Building. Gateway International has stopped selling this product and no recall has been issued at this time.

The warning was in response to the finding that these products contain the drug Sibutramine. Sibutramine is a chemical found in prescription medicines, such as Meridia, used to treat obesity. It is used to help people lose weight and maintain their weight loss by affecting the chemicals in the brain that control appetite, making people eat less by helping them feel full.

There is a long list of conditions that make taking a product containing Sibutramine dangerous to your health. You should not take Sibutramine if you are taking or have recently taken any other weight management medications that act on chemicals of the brain, MAO inhibitors, St. John’s wort, antidepressants and antipsychotics or the antidepressant fluoxetine. You should also avoid Sibutramine if you suffer from a psychiatric illness including depression, high blood pressure that is not properly controlled, a history of anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa or if you have ever had a heart attack, coronary artery disease, congestive heart failure, heart-related chest pain, irregular heart beats, a stroke, or symptoms of a stroke.

Reported side effects of Sibutramine include constipation, headache, sweating, nervousness, trouble sleeping, dry mouth, and vomiting however Health Canada warns that Sibutramine may also cause serious side effects including cardiovascular reactions such as increased blood pressure, chest pain, and stroke.

In their issued warning, Health Canada makes the clear statement that “The Slimming Coffee” and “Lose Weight Coffee” are not authorized for sale in Canada. This statement leaves many people wondering how products such as these come to be available on Canadian store shelves.  Gateway International has not done anything illegal by offering these products for sale. They have, in fact, done the responsible thing by stopping the sale of this product. To date no adverse reactions from the use of either “The Slimming Coffee” or “Lose Weight Coffee” have been reported in Canada.

The reason that many natural health products remain “unauthorized” at this time is due to the backlog of Product Licence Applications currently waiting to be reviewed by the Natural Health Products Directorate. It has been the practice of Health Canada for many years to allow natural health products to be sold prior to the completion of their review process.

When natural health products pass Health Canada’s assessment for safety, effectiveness, and quality, a Natural Product Number (NPN) is issued and will appear on the label of that product. It is your choice as an informed consumer whether you choose to use only those products that have been issued an NPN. An NPN does indicate that Health Canada has reviewed the paperwork sent to them; however it does not ensure the safety of any individual batch of product. Evidence of this is clear based on product recalls issued for products that contain Drug Identification Numbers (DIN), a Natural Product Numbers (NPN), and Homeopathic Medicine Numbers (DIN-HM).

The absence of an NPN also does not indicate that a product is unsafe; it is possible that the documents for that product just had the misfortune of ending up on the desk of a really slow reviewer.  

~Do not sacrifice health for beauty. Do not sacrifice freedom of choice for government protection~