Meridia, a weight loss drug from Abbott Laboratories, was pulled from the market in 2010 after it was found to increase the risk of heart attack and stroke. But now a generic version of the drug is turning up in some brands of “slimming coffees.” Slimming coffees arrived on stores shelves a few years ago promising health benefits and easy weight loss. Some of them, however, contain the generic form of Meridia called sibutramine and can pose a serious health risk rather. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Meridia for sale in the US as a a weight loss aid for the obese. Thirteen years later, the agency requested the product’s withdrawal from the market after a study conducted in connection with European approval for the drug found “a 16 percent increase in the risk of … [Read more...]
Veggies Meet A Fork In The Road: Heart Health v. Food Poisoning
It was a good news/bad news week for fresh produce. One study, by the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said most illnesses stemming from foodborne illness outbreaks are caused by produce. Another study by researchers at Oxofrd University found that a vegetarian diet can reduce the risk of heart disease by 32 percent. The CDC study looked at food poisoning outbreaks that occurred between 1998 and 2008. More than 13,352 food poisoning outbreaks happened during that period. Of those, a specific food source was identified in 37 percent of them or 4,887 outbreaks. CDC researchers attributed 46 percent of all illnesses stemming form those outbreaks to produce and 23 percent of them to leafy greens. The Oxford study also looked at 11 years of data and found that a … [Read more...]
