Before FDA warnings surfaced, StarCaps weight loss pills boasted advertising spreads in popular magazines and glowing testimonials from celebrities such as Kathie Lee Gifford. This may have led many consumers to believe that these pills were perfectly safe, although unfortunately that was not the case. Despite a company's claims, consumers should know that taking diet pills of any kind poses a risk, and what's listed on the ingredient label may not tell the whole story.
About StarCaps
Prior to late 2008, StarCaps were produced by Balanced Health Products, a company owned by Beverly Hills, California, socialite Nikki Haskell, a former television host and self-proclaimed "Diet Queen to the Stars." StarCaps were marketed as an over-the-counter weight loss supplement containing "a natural blend of papaya and garlic from the higher Andes of Peru." These diet pills were available without a prescription online and in commercial health and nutrition shops.
StarCaps Recall
In the fall of 2008, retailers such as GNC and the Vitamin Shoppe pulled StarCaps from shelves after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration discovered that StarCaps contained bumetanide, a prescription-only diuretic not listed on StarCaps ingredient labels. According to the FDA, bumetanide can cause elevations in the body's uric acid concentrations and serious fluid and electrolyte loss. Bumetanide also interacts dangerously with certain medications and may pose additional risks to those allergic to sulfonamides. After FDA reports surfaced, Balanced Health Products voluntarily recalled StarCaps products containing bumetanide. As of October 2010, StarCaps diet pills are no longer available for purchase, and Haskell's company is out of business.
Regulations
Current laws concerning over-the-counter dietary supplements do not give the FDA the same authority that it has with prescription drugs. The FDA can only test and spot-check products already on the market, which means that contaminated or unsafe products may make it into stores and consumers' medicine cabinets. According to StarCaps creator Nikki Haskell, her company sold "several hundred thousand bottles" before the product was recalled.
Warning
Bill Roberts, a University of Minnesota family medicine professor and former president of the American College of Sports Medicine, warns that the word "natural" does not always imply safety when it comes to dietary supplements. Because of the risk of undeclared substances in supplements, remember the phrase "buyer beware," and use these products at your own risk.
Expert Insight
Health and nutrition professionals, such as Sidney Wolfe, MD, Health Research Group director with the Public Citizen consumer advocacy group, suggest avoiding weight loss supplements altogether due to the risks posed by StarCaps and other unregulated supplements. There is no magic solution to weight loss, Wolfe advises. "The only way you can lose weight in a sustainable way is to cut down on your dietary intake by 200 or 300 calories a day and exercise 100 to 200 calories more," Wolfe says. "None of this other stuff works."
References
- New York Times: F.D.A. Finds 'Natural' Diet Pills Laced With Drugs
- Marine Corps Times: The Skinny on Fat Burners
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration: Balanced Health Products, Inc. Expands Voluntary Urgent Nationwide Recall of Starcaps Dietary Supplement Capsules Found to Contain an Undeclared Drug Ingredient
- Health.com: Your "Natural" Weight-Loss Supplement May Be a Health Hazard
- New York Post: Diet Pill Bankrupts Nikki Haskell
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