THANDI XABA
A vigorous lifestyle and the desire to be healthier has impacted a lot of people. There is a rising need and different methods to lose weight, yet the fame surrounding slimming herbal medications, just to mention but a few, are seeing some people have dire side-effects due to the intake.
Recently a South African 52 year old female was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, a condition of having an overactive thyroid where your thyroid gland produces too much of the hormone thyroxine, after tests done on her Green Tea Capsules and Slimming Green Tea led to a clinical and biochemical diagnosis of hyperthyroidism.
Despite the benefits of some herbal beverages, Bloemfontein doctor Mariana Lloyd warns “Some of these slimming health teas carry substances that seem to contain thyroid hormones, and they may be dangerous to consumers’ health. It seems that this drug is very popular especially in the rural areas of the Free State, because patients do lose weight.”
Reports say there is a need for increased public awareness of risks associated with the use of unlicensed herbal medicines, since some may be harmful to their consumers.
According to The Journal of The Royal Society for the Promotion of Health (December 2002 Vol 122 No 4), some herbal materials carry further risks since some are not labelled with the products name and ingredients, if listed, they may only appear in Chinese characters.
