BREAKING NEWS 📰: FDA Recalls Toxic Supplements 🚨 – Check Your Cabinets NOW to Stay Safe! | Ep 005

BREAKING NEWS – The FDA has recalled 2 more toxic supplements. You need to check the supplements on your shelf right now. The FDA has deemed them to be dangerous. Here’s what you need to know.

On December 3^rd , the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a safety alert for supplements called New Me and VidaSlim containing toxic yellow oleander. The products labeled ingredients such as tejocote [TE-ho-cote] or Brazil seed, when in fact they actually contained yellow oleander. The other ingredients in these supplements have been used for digestion, weight loss, and inflammation. Since both digestion and inflammation impact our IBD community, I want to ensure you become aware immediately and are safe. 

Yellow oleander (Thevetia peruviana) is a poisonous plant that can cause serious health issues in the brain, nerves, heart, blood vessels, the digestive system, and most importantly can be fatal if ingested.

These are the ingredients listed on the supplements’ packaging that have been actually switched with toxic yellow oleander: tejocote root, Crataegus mexicana, Raiz de Tejocote, and Mexican Hawthorn. For those of you on the podcast, I'll make sure to put those in the transcript so that you have them.

Here is the list of all of the supplements sold online where toxic yellow oleander was substituted in products. Check this out, some of the companies were unreachable and most egregiously declined to recall their product. Pause the video and make note of each of these. Compare the list with the supplements in your home. If you have any of these, the FDA advises consumers:

1. to stop using them and dispose of these products.

2.  who have taken any of these products of concern to contact their health care provider immediately. Even if these products have not been used recently, consumers should still inform their health care provider about which product they took, so that an appropriate evaluation may be conducted.

3. Call 9-1-1 [in the United States] or get emergency medical help right away if you or someone in your care has serious side effects from these products.

4. to contact your healthcare provider if you or someone in your care recently ingested these products and have health concerns.

5. to contact your state’s poison control center [in the United States].

So, if we go to the New Me website, remember this was one of the products recalled by the FDA just 2 days ago. If we look at their website – look, top of fold. These are still here. Let’s look. The New Me says it has the tejocote root, which we know according to the FDA, is not in the product and instead it has been switched with the toxic yellow oleander. Which can be deadly.

Still on the market.

If we go to the 2^nd one, VidaSlim, and we see that if you look at every single one of their products -- the one that has been recalled, the VidaSlim product is no longer listed.

However, remember the FDA says they have not committed to a recall, which means that although they are not selling it now, they have refused to go back and tell all of their people that have bought that product that it could potentially be deadly to them.

So, with all of these other products that they are selling, you have to ask yourself if this is a company that you trust? That’s up to you. 

If you experience any adverse reaction to any supplement you take, you can file a complaint with the FDA at the Safety Reporting Portal at www.safetyreporting.hhs.gov. In the references section of the description below, I will put the link to a helpful 2-page document on dietary supplements and reporting them to the FDA if you experience any adverse reactions. Be safe, my friends.

This is IBD Vegan. I am your host, Alexis, and I want you to remember, it is possible to become more educated, resilient, and feel empowered for a better quality of life. 

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REFERENCES

🗎 FDA. (2022, May). Dietary Supplements: Report Adverse Events to FDA [PDF]. United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA). https://www.fda.gov/media/158339/down... 

🗎 FDA. (updated: 2024, December 3). FDA Issues Warning About Certain Supplements Substituted with Toxic Yellow Oleander (January 2024). United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA). https://www.fda.gov/food/alerts-advis... 

🗎 Jackman, E. (2024, December 5). FDA adds two more toxic products to supplement recall: Here’s what you need to know. Health in Pennsylvania, Patriot News. https://www.pennlive.com/health/2024/...

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HEALTH DISCLAIMER

⚠️ This content is not meant to replace medical or other professional advice. We strongly encourage you to seek advice from a licensed nutritionist, medical doctor, or other professional for your specific needs, if necessary.