US warns of toxic dietary supplements sold on Amazon and eBay

In the latest updated list on March 11, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) named 28 highly toxic products. The analysis showed that the manufacturers had falsified the ingredients by using yellow oleander (Thevetia peruviana) instead of tejocote root or Brazil nut as stated on the packaging. Contrary to tejocote root or Brazil nut, which provides a lot of vitamin C, antioxidants and aids in weight loss, yellow oleander is an extremely poisonous plant native to Mexico and Central America.

List of toxic functional foods as of March 11

Health authorities warn that the toxicity of yellow oleander can wreak havoc on the body, causing serious neurological, digestive and cardiovascular complications. Poisoned people often exhibit symptoms of abdominal pain, delirium, vomiting, diarrhea and, most dangerously, sudden cardiac arrest.

Currently, buyers can still find many blacklisted functional foods on major e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, eBay or Etsy. Some companies have proactively recalled goods, but many other distribution units still ignore warnings. Faced with this situation, the FDA is actively working with third-party trading platforms to eliminate dangerous items and expand the scope of testing for suspicious products.

The FDA officially opened a large-scale investigation in September 2023, right after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed the true ingredients of functional food bottles labeled tejocote root. Medical experts urgently urge people who have consumed these products to quickly contact a doctor for a health assessment. If the body has an unusual reaction, people must call an emergency room or go to a poison control center immediately, and at the same time destroy the remaining medicine themselves.