HERBALIFE SUPPLEMENT LIVER TOXICITY VIDEO

  Supplements

Contrary to the claims of many sellers of supplements (including bad advice from health food stores), we should strive to get most of our nutrients from produce not pills, though there are rare diseases that require supplementation.
There are tens of thousands of phytonutrients in plants that can display synergistic effects and have not been successfully isolated efficaciously in supplement form. For example iron, which is important during pregnancy, may be harmful in pill form. Similarly, folate in beans and greens is preferable to folic acid in pills. Flax seed, but not flax seed oil, lowers cholesterol. Citrulline supplements may aid erectile dysfunction, but a better source is watermelon. Similarly, eating soy foods, rather than taking soy supplements, may reduce the risk of breast cancer recurrence. And it is whole produce, not pills, which has been shown to increase physical attractiveness.
However, for those on plant-based diets, there are two vitamins not produced by plants that may require supplementation. They are vitamin D from sun but not from tanning beds (see also here, here, here, here, here, here, here) and vitamin B12 (see also here, here, here, here, here). Among vegans, B12 deficiency is an epidemic if no supplements are used, which can have devastating consequences for their infants (see also here). Vegetarian’s myelopathy is a syndrome coined to describe vitamin B12 decficiency, which can result in paralysis. Another nutrient vegans should keep an eye on is iodine, which is especially important during pregnancy (though harmful in too too great quantities).
One of the most commonly used supplements is fish oil. It has been found to contain DDT as well as other industrial pollutants, including high levels of dioxin, PCBs and mercury (which are neural and cardiac toxins). This includes distilled fish oil, cod liver oil and those labeled ‘Toxin-Free’. Instead, there are safe plant sources of omega-3; alternatives include algae and yeast derived EPA and DHA, which also lower inflammation.
While there are some harmless vitamin supplements such as vitamin C and Airborne supplements, others may do more harm than good, such as multivitamins, which may actually increase breast and prostate cancer risk, and antioxidant vitamin supplements such as Vitamin E that may shorten one’s lifespan.
A variety of other potentially harmful supplements exist including: Herbalife (for its liver toxicity, possibly due to vitamin A), Juice Plus+ (which is really just another vitamin supplement), glyconutrient supplements, lutein pills, creatine, copper supplements (which may contribute to Alzheimer’s), zinc gel, kombucha tea, noni juice, and rice bran. Ayurvedic medicine (see also here) has been found to contain lead. Spirulina and blue-green algae supplements may contain neurotoxins and/or liver toxins (a safer alternative is chlorella).
See also the related blog posts: Vitamin D: Shedding some light on the new recommendations, Multivitamins and Mortality, Vegan B12 deficiency: putting it into perspective
Topic summary contributed by Eitan
To help out on the site, email NutritionFactsVolunteers@gmail.com

Herbalife® Supplement Liver Toxicity

liver disease

The USDA has failed to safeguard the meat supply from drug residues and toxic metals, which may result in jaundice and other liver issues. The discovery of infectious hepatitis E virus in retail pork products may help explain the purported association between liver failure and pork consumption. The transfer of blood on cutting machines may explain hepatitis C transmission between deli workers. Potentially toxic to the liver: noni juice, Herbalife® supplements (see here, here), spirulina (see here, here), cod liver oil, BPA in plastics, JuicePlus+® supplements, and shark cartilage.
The good news is that a vegetable protein diet appears to treat liver failure. Indian gooseberries may also protect the liver. And Ceylon cinnamon is the safest because it does not contain coumarin, which may damage the liver at toxic doses. Lastly, chamomile tea may not be safe to consume if you have a liver disease.
Dr. Greger covers liver disease in his full-length presentation, Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death, where he explores the role diet may play in preventing, treating, and even reversing our top 15 killers.
Topic summary contributed by Denise
To help out on this site, email NutritionFactsVolunteers@gmail.com

 

 

liver health

The liver is a detoxifying machine (see also here). The following appear to promote liver health: green tea, Indian gooseberries (see also here), and broccoli. Possibly protective against liver cancer: black beans, and coffee (see also here).
Possibly toxic to the liver: noni juice, Herbalife supplements (see also here), Juice Plus+ supplements, spirulina (see also here), BPA in plastics, cod liver oil, drugs and toxic metals in meat, pesticides, coumarin (found in some types of cinnamon), kava kava, and green tea supplements.
Hepatitis E is now known to be a zoonotic (animal-to-human) disease that may be contracted from pigs via pork consumption. Hepatitis C may be transmitted between deli workers via blood contamination of slicers. And poultry workers have been found to have an excess of liver cancer, among other types of cancer.

Topic summary contributed by Denise
To help out on this site, email NutritionFactsVolunteers@gmail.com

HERBS AND HEALTHY LIVERS

Herbs and healthy livers

Few consumers hear about the reports in the medical literature of liver and other toxicities from herbal products. Dr. Leonard B. Seeff, M.D., of the National Institutes of Health, reviewed the herbal products that have been associated with liver damage in the journal Clinical Liver Disease. His concerns about the growing numbers of medical cases were similar to an earlier 2005 comprehensive review for the European Association for the Study of the Liver in the Journal of Hepatology, led by Dr. Felix Stickel, M.D.. These doctors reported that, depending on the geographic region, 21% to 65% of patients seen for liver disease have been taking herbal preparations. Most evident is that women are at greatest risk not only because they use more herbals, but because of their higher susceptibility to herbal- and pharmaceutical-induced liver damage. Because many practitioners and consumers believe herbals are safe, the doctors noted the many times patients will even continue to take them as their liver diseases worsen.

Dr. Stickel and colleagues added:

Another problem is that herbals are usually mixtures of several ingredients or plants harvested during different seasons and extracted through variable procedures, which makes the identification of both the pharmacologically active and toxic compounds difficult. Also, contamination of herbals with microorganisms, fungal toxins such as aflatoxin, with pesticides, heavy metals and synthetic drugs has been described. Interactions between herbs and chemical drugs are another source of problems associated with the intake of herbal compounds.

While liver damage appears infrequently, the consequences are serious enough for patients that these cases are getting the notice of doctors. Another article in this month’s issue of the Journal of Hepatology by researchers at Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center in Israel reported on 12 patients (11 women) with acute liver injury after using Herbalife products. Incredibly, after three patients recovered, they resumed taking Herbalife products and succumbed to a second bout of hepatitis.

Another article in the same issue reported on a study by doctors in Switzerland. They had become concerned after seeing several patients with severe liver damage who had been using Herbalife products and tried to determine how prevalent liver toxicity due to Herbalife products might be. They surveyed all departments of medicine at 121 Swiss public hospitals, divisions of gastroenterology/hepatology, pathology and the Swiss pharmacovigilance database and identified 10 cases of liver toxicity in otherwise healthy people not taking any other herbal products or medications from 1998-2004. Rigorous questioning proved necessary as patients consistently underreported their use of herbal products, they said. They carefully documented the cases, including obtaining liver biopsies in most. Three of the ten patients had potentially life-threatening liver failure requiring liver transplants.
“The lack of labeling of contents of these products renders causality assessment impossible,” they reported. But using the WHO criteria for Causality Assessment of Suspected Adverse Reactions and expert hepatopathologists blinded to the patient information of herbal use, they determined that two were certainly caused by the Herbalife products, seven cases were probably and one case possibly.
This is not the first time that Herbalife has been in the news and the target of governmental regulatory agencies and concerned medical professionals. As recently reported, it is one of the oldest multi-level marketing companies selling vitamin and herbal products promising better health and slimness. Herbalife has found it especially lucrative to take advantage of poor people in developing countries. MLM is a sales technique where people, working as independent distributors, buy sales kits and products which they sell and, in return, are promised they’ll make money from those sales as well as from a percentage of the sales of those who they recruit as new distributors. However, fewer than 1% of distributors ever earn much money and many are stuck with thousands of dollars of products. MLM and pyramid schemes are listed on many attorney generals' top ten lists of consumer complaints. At MLM Watch.org, you can read more about MLM, including a summary of complaints that have previously been submitted to the FTC on Herbalife products.
A few years ago, the National Council Against Health Fraud issued a position paper on MLM health product companies. It listed important precautions for consumers, as well as described the harm that’s come to people who’ve gotten mixed up in them. Dr. Stephen Barrett, M.D., NCAHF Vice President, examined more than 100 MLM companies offering health-related products and concluded “that every one of them has made false or misleading claims in their promotional materials.” He said:

The products promoted as remedies are either bogus, unproven or intended for conditions that are unsuitable for self-medication...Most supplement companies get their raw ingredients from the same bulk wholesalers and merely repackage them...During the past several years, many physicians have begun selling health-related multilevel products to patients in their offices. Doctors are typically recruited with promises that the extra income will replace income lost to managed care....During the past 20 years, more than 25 health-related MLM companies have faced regulatory actions for false advertising, operating a pyramid scheme, or both. Although such actions usually improve future behavior, they rarely provide adequate redress for victims. Moreover, the number of MLM frauds known to Federal Trade Commission vastly exceeds its capacity to prosecute them on a case-by-case basis.

The growing reports of life-threatening health risks among users of these products remind us to not to be taken in by claims of magical benefits of any dietary intervention. Beyond preventing deficiencies — which is easily achieved by virtually everyone simply when enjoying all sorts of foods — no food or supplement is supernatural. When we hear claims that optimal or personalized nutrition is science-based and can improve our heart, digestive or immune health; help us age healthfully, improve our memory or eyesight, or remove wrinkles; increase our energy and fitness; or manage weight, control our appetite or boost metabolism...we know it sounds too good to be true.

The pursuit of optimal nutrition, ‘wellness’ and slim bodies has become fertile ground for the marketing of products, diets and regimens that promise “a lifetime of good health.” Herbal and natural dietary and weight loss supplements can be alluring because they may seem safe. Three new studies, however, have documented liver toxicity among healthy people using natural herbal supplements — more than 20 cases were just among Herbalife customers in two small countries.