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FDA Warns
of Risk of Stroke from Cold and Diet Drugs
On
November 6, 2000, the Food and Drug Administration
warned that an ingredient in cold and diet drugs
could cause a 12- to 15-fold increased stroke
risk, especially in young women. With millions
of Americans swallowing PPA daily, the FDA estimated
it could be to blame for 200 to 500 strokes yearly
just in people under age 50.
The
FDA issued an unusually strong warning, telling
Americans to immediately quit using drugs containing
phenylpropanolamine, or PPA, which is found Dexatrim,
Tavist-D and dozens of other over-the-counter
medicines. The agency, which intends to ban the
ingredient, asked manufacturers voluntarily to
stop selling PPA-containing drugs immediately
and to replace the ingredient with a safer alternative.
Whitehall-Robins
Healthcare quit shipping PPA-containing Dimetapp
on Monday. SmithKline Beecham Consumer Healthcare
said people should not use its PPA-containing
Contac 12-hour Cold Capsules.
Risk
is small, but effects can be deadly
These
top-selling brands contain PPA: Novartis Corp.
Triaminic and Tavist-D; Bayer Corp., Alka-Seltzer
Plus cold medicines; and Chattem Inc. Dexatrim
diet pills.
About
6 billion doses of PPA are sold in this country
each year, mostly without prescriptions. There
are a few PPA-containing prescription decongestants,
and the FDA asked their makers also to stop selling
them while it moves to ban prescription use as
well.
Although
the risk of a hemorrhagic stroke, or bleeding
in the brain, is very small to an individual user,
more than 6 billion doses of these drugs sold
in this country each year. With millions of Americans
swallowing PPA daily, the FDA estimated it could
be to blame for 200 to 500 often deadly strokes
yearly just in people under age 50. Survivors
are often left disabled for life.
Hemorrhagic
strokes typically occur in the elderly, and are
extremely rare under age 50. In the 1980s, however,
medical journals cited several dozen young women
who suddenly had strokes days after taking their
first PPA-containing diet pill.
A
five-year Yale University study comparing PPA
use among stroke survivors with healthy people
concluded that PPA increases stroke risk for young
women within three days of taking PPA-containing
appetite suppressants, or within three days of
taking their first-ever PPA dose for any reason.
In some cases, using PPA increased stroke risk
12- to 15-fold.
Nobody
knows why, although first-time PPA use sometimes
temporarily raises blood pressure, an effect that
wanes as the body gets used to the drug. Risk
was highest with the higher doses -- more than
75 milligrams daily -- that dieters typically
used.
The
study didn't find men at risk, but the FDA cautioned
that enough men weren't studied to be sure they're
OK.
Dr.
Hansen’s Rx: Don’t take drugs, take
Phytobiotic for Colds and Succeed to lose weight.
For
more information about Phytobiotic, go here: Phytobiotic
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