Consumers warned against diet coffee
By The Nation
2011-05-03
Certain brands of diet coffee contain weight-loss chemicals that may cause drinkers with health problems to have heart attacks, a Chiang Mai seminar on consumer protection was told yesterday.
The speakers, mostly activists working with various consumer-protection bodies, also expressed concerns about extensive availability of diet coffee at cosmetics shops and in the food-supplements sections of department stores, as well as through online advertising.
A laboratory-based examination of a local diet-coffee brand in Chiang Mai found that it contained sibutramine, an oral anorexiant (drug that suppresses appetite). Until recently it was marketed and prescribed as an adjunct in the treatment of exogenous obesity - that caused by overeating - along with diet and exercise. It has been associated with increased cardiovascular events and strokes and has been withdrawn from the market in many countries, including Thailand.
"The use of sibutramine is permitted only in controlled diets in certified clinics and only through prescription by doctors," said a senior government pharmacist, Phison Sribundit. He advised consumers of diet coffee to stop drinking it if it caused excessive heartbeats or rapid weight loss.
"Sibutramine can cause a heart attack if consumed for lengthy periods," he said.
Although not all brands of diet coffee contain weight-loss chemicals, other substances may be included, such as high-fibre ingredients, which are mixed in but not identified clearly on labels. These substances have lured consumers into buying these products.
Phison said FDA logos did not necessarily mean that foods and other products were certified by the Food and Drugs Administration.
"In certain cases, the owners of products have obtained FDA approvals in advance, and later illegally put other messages on the packages, other than those for which they sought permission," he said.
The seminar also discussed other consumer-protection complaints made to authorities in Chiang Mai, including television advertising of flavour-enhancing powders using child actors and fitness centres that exploit clients by providing ambiguous details about conditions of services.
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