Bad For Your Health?

A CBS 2 News Special Assignment

Some people want to pop a pill and make the fat burn away. But are these herbal supplements safe?

CBS 2 News' Thelma Gutierrez investigates what's really behind one of the hottest-selling diet pills.

Special Assignment: Bad For Your Health? aired Wednesday, May 18, 1999 at 11 p.m.

We all want to have great bodies. We want it quick, we want it easy and we want it now.

"I don't want to diet for six months," says one woman.

One way to do it is herbal dietary supplements, said CBS 2 News' Thelma Gutierrez.

"It's safe a 100 percent natural," claims one commercial.

There are literally dozens of products out there, but the most visible is probably Metabolife. You've most likely seen it. They have kiosks in just about every mall, Gutierrez said.

The claims are exciting, like no exercise, no hard diet and no major side effects.

"It exercises your own body," the commercial says. "Whatever you eat is basically fine. It's not going to damage your immune system in any way."

It all sounds like a dieter's dream come true. But while the company says sales are topping $3 million a day with tens of thousands of satisfied customers, some health experts are warning that what's in the bottle may actually seriously harm or even kill you.

"This is one of the most controversial and dangerous substances in the dietary supplement marketplace," said Dr. Jarvis, founder of the National Council Against Health Fraud and a professor at Loma Linda Medical School. "The illusion is that natural is safest."

With ingredients such as bee pollen, sasparilla and ginger, you might wonder what's the concern. But Dr. Jarvis said the problem is a natural ingredient in Metabolife called "mahuang," better known as ephedrine.

"It is a central nervous system stimulant. It causes the heart rate to increase, it causes your blood pressure to go up. If you have high blood pressure, that can precipitate a stroke," Dr. Javis told Gutierrez.

In fact, 15 different adverse reactions have been reported to the FDA by Metabolife customers, reported Gutierrez. They include palpitations, dizziness, seizures, anxiety and, in one case, even death.

"The person reported to have an ephedra-related death. It turned out they were drinking too much and died in an automobile accident," Metabolife's Dr. Randy Smith explained.

Dr. Smith believes the product is getting a bad rap, saying anyone can make a claim about any product without proof.

"It's an anecdotal reporting system," Dr. Smith told Gutierrez. "There's no scientific evidence. We believe it's safe and effective."

Metabolife introduced the I-Team to 33-year-old Karen Ellis, a mother of three and one of the company's success stories.

"I tried everything. This is the only thing that worked," Ellis said.

She went from a size 15 to a size 10 in a year. Ellis says Metabolife has changed her metabolism, and she's never felt better.

"Instead of storing calories as fat, you burn them off as heat. No exercise, eat healthy. I have so much energy," she told Gutierrez.

In fact, increased energy is also one of the selling points behind Metabolife.

"They say energy herbs. It's really a drug trip," Dr. Jarvis argued. "It's the stuff they make speed out of and they get high."

As far as ephedrine is concerned, the FDA has recorded over 900 adverse reaction reports, said Gutierrez. Right now, there is no government regulation of ephedrine, but the FDA has proposed a safety rule that would limit supplements to 8 milligrams of ephedrine per serving. Metabolife's own labels says it contains 12 milligrams per pill.

"How much ephedrine should people be ingesting? Our interpretation is 1 milligram," said Susan Loscotoff, a toxicologist with the state of California.

Loscotoff helped write a letter asking the FDA to take an even tougher stand against supplements like Metabolife that contain ephedrine. The other big concern for health experts is who is dispensing this pseudo-medical advice.

At each of the mall kiosks the I-Team visited undercover, they were told different amounts to take. At one mall, the woman selling Metabolife didn't even know the product contained ephedrine.

"I lost 10 pounds when I took it. That's all I want to lose, so now I just take it for energy," said the saleswoman. "You may only need three and a half pills."

"Taking 48 milligrams a day is cool?" asked the undercover I-Team producer.

"Oh yeah," replied the woman.

"I can take eight pills a day?"

"Yeah," she reiterated.

Without government standards to guide consumers on the question of ephedrine, the quest for a quick fix to be thin comes at your own risk. For thousands of others, they're willing to take the chance.

"It's a fast, natural way to lose weight," Ellis said.

"Arsenic is natural, so is stricknine. That doesn't mean it's good for you," said Dr. Jarvis.

Dr. Jarvis also told the I-Team he is concerned about the people at the mall who sell Metabolife, saying they are not qualified to dispense psuedo-medical advice.

Metabolife says their salespeople are instructed to tell customers to consult their doctors if they have medical questions.