Health authorities in Japan are investigating a food supplement for reduce cholesterol which, the government said on Wednesday, could have caused two deaths and more than one hundred hospitalizations in the country.
The Japanese company Kobayashi Pharmaceutical had recalled products from three supplement brands that contained an ingredient called red yeast rice after receiving complaints about kidney problems from some customers.
Medical studies describe this substance as an alternative to statins to reduce cholesterol, but they also warn of the danger of organ damage depending on its chemical mixture.
“The total number of suspected deaths (is now) two” and “106 cases of potentially linked hospitalizations also appeared,” said government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi.
The Kobayashi Pharmaceutical company sells a wide range of health products that are promoted in television advertisements in Japan.
The firm explained to AFP that it was aware of the two deaths possibly linked to these products, but declined to comment further and asked not to establish a causal link with its products.
The company based in the city of Osaka also supplies red yeast rice to fifty other firms in Japan and two in Taiwan. Dozens of them decided to withdraw their products.
Health Minister Keizo Takemi said Tuesday that the government had asked the company to “promptly provide” information on the situation.
His department also “ordered local authorities to collect information on the health damage,” said the minister, who offered his condolences to those affected.
The manufacturer had explained that the first deceased person potentially linked to this case had regularly purchased one of the recalled products for almost three years.
The company offered its “deepest apologies” and said the relationship between the two events was being investigated.
An analysis revealed the possibility that the products contained “ingredients that should not have been included,” the firm had said this week.
But this study did not show that red yeast rice produced citrinin, a toxic substance that can damage the kidneys.
Red yeast rice is produced “by fermenting steamed rice with dietary fungi and is often used to reduce high cholesterol as an alternative to statin medication,” according to a 2019 study in the British Medical Journal.
In the past, concerns have arisen about cholesterol products that contain high levels of a compound called moncaolin K, which has the same structure as medically approved cholesterol drugs.
“Red yeast rice products that contain significant portions of moncaolin K may have the same side effects as statin medications, such as muscle, kidney, or liver damage,” states the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. USA.
Source: Ambito
