2 weight loss products imported from Hong Kong, US found to contain banned substance harmful to brain

The Ministry of Health's Food Safety Department announced Thursday that the National Institute for Food Safety and Hygiene Control had made the discovery after testing samples.

The substance was found in a batch of Dang Xuan Phuc Linh Gold made in Hong Kong on Jan. 11, 2023, and expiring on Jan. 11, 2026.

It was imported and distributed by EU YB Joint Stock Company in Yen Bai City in northern Vietnam.

A batch of Best Slim Collagen batch made in the U.S. and imported by the Hoa Anh Dao Medical Equipment Company Limited in Hanoi was also found tainted. But the Hanoi company has denied importing the product.

The department is investigating further.

It has warned the public not to buy, use or trade products from the two batches and instructed local authorities to recall them.

The package of weight loss product Dang Xuan Phuc Linh Gold sold in Vietnam. Photo courtesy of the Food Safety Department under the Ministry of Health

Dr. Nguyen Trung Nguyen, director of the Poison Control Center at Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi, said sibutramine was once widely used to treat obesity but has been banned in the U.S., Europe and Vietnam because the risk of harm far outweighs benefits.

Major studies have shown that this drug increases the risk of stroke and serious cardiovascular complications.

In Vietnam, since 2010, the Drug Administration has stopped licensing the import of sibutramine, banned its distribution and recalled all products containing it.

It is on the list of substances prohibited for use in the production and trading of health protection foods.

"Sibutramine has a molecular structure similar to amphetamine, an extremely dangerous substance," Nguyen said.

The Poison Control Center has treated many patients affected by using weight loss and other health supplements containing sibutramine, including some in a coma and with convulsions and brain damage.