Health Ministry of Cyprus warns against buying risky food supplements

FOOD supplements containing dangerous substances are being sold on the market, the Health Ministry of Cyprus has warned.

Some have been sold by unauthorised individuals in beauty parlours and hairdressers, and promoted as slimming products and sex aids.

Two varieties of food supplement falling in this camp are called Lida and Meizitang, said Ioannis Kkolos of the Health Ministry’s pharmaceutical services, both “containing sibutramine, an active weight-loss drug which can have serious side effects on healthy people, including raising blood pressure, creating heart problems and causing seizures”.

At particular risk are individuals with previous health problems, he added. This group includes those with a history of hypertension, liver problems, coronary artery disease and glaucoma.

Sibutramine has been banned by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) which ordered in January 2010 its suspension from all EU markets.

Nonetheless, the selling of illegal products and tainted food supplements is a recurring problem for the island, with two people suffering liver damage in 2008 by taking herbal slimming products.

“The public should not be using drugs or food supplements without consulting their doctor or pharmacist,” the health ministry had warned at the time.

Pharmacists, however, often hand over drugs without subscriptions and, despite a 2001 EU-harmonised law forbidding them to sell drugs without prescription, it still takes place, especially when the chemist knows the client.

“I needed to get cortisone for my kid and I thought my pharmacist wouldn’t give it to me, but he said ‘this is Cyprus’ and just handed it over,” 38-year-old purchase manager Sandrine Parpa said.

While the Ministry’s warning to avoid taking drugs without a prescription makes sense, why do consumers need to consult a doctor before taking a food supplement?

The answer lies in that food supplements, such as vitamins, are not registered drugs and therefore not tested by the pharmaceutical services.

They sometimes make health claims which mislead people, especially when they contain herbal substances marketed as a safe, natural alternative to chemical drugs.

Additionally, their make-up is checked by the health services which do not evaluate every single product on the market but instead hold periods of sample testing.

Meanwhile, if a product does not state all of its components, it may slip under the radar until the Health Ministry receives a complaint or catches it in one of its tests.

Parpa found this out the hard way when another pharmacist gave her an unregulated herbal substance of Chinese origin to use. “It completely killed my stomach,” she recalled.

Thus, because of the repeated availability of such dangerous products, it is better to err on the side of caution, deputy head of health services Christos Christou noted.

Herbal products in Cyprus cannot currently be marketed as drugs, with “all health claims” from herbal products being “forbidden”, he said.

A 2004 EU directive, meant to pass as law on May 1, stipulates the procedure for the registration of herbal medicines. Those wishing to sell a product as a herbal drug will have to undergo a simplified registration procedure.

This is straightforward for products containing ingredients used worldwide for 30 years, 15 of which can be in an EU member-state.

The EMA maintains a website for all approved medicines, including herbal ones, at http://www.ema.europa.eu/.

But the public still buys herbal products as food supplements on the promise of health benefits even though some are potentially dangerous.

“Food supplements should have a warning stating they are not necessary for those who have a balanced diet,” Christou said, but a stroll around the aisles of stores selling herbal products quickly demonstrates this does not always take place.

Nonetheless, natural remedies are increasingly gaining popularity in Cyprus.

Naturopathy is based on the philosophy of using natural products, including herbs to treat disease.

A naturopathic practitioner may prescribe vitamins, essential oils, foods and prebiotics to treat the body.

Instead of taking chemicals, the Cyprus Association of Alternative Therapists (CAAT) recommends “natural, non-toxic remedies which have no side effects and (which) help rather inhibit the body’s function”.

The health ministry, though, warns people that herbal products are not always safe just because they are natural.

“There’s always been a problem at the consumers’ end, with many buying products online,” Christou explained, going on to describe the health services’ control of food supplements as that of “the strictest country” on this matter.

Parpa would disagree with him though. “There is no control, you can just walk into a pharmacy and get anything you want,” she said.

 Source:Cyprus Mail