Fat burners sending some users to ER, study finds

Many claim to be natural, which may sound safe, but dietary supplements send 23,000 Americans to hospital emergency rooms each year, a new U.S. study estimates.

The riskiest ones are weight-loss and energy-boosting products, says the report, published in this week’s New England Journal of Medicine.

The market is flush with pills and powders. Supplement products have increased dramatically in the U.S, from about 4,000 types in 1994, for example, to more than 55,000 in 2012. Dietary supplements are viewed as food supplements in the U.S. and do not need federal Food and Drug Administration approval before they are sold, nor do they get the kind of testing prescription drugs do. The FDA can order a product off the market if it is found to be unsafe.

Dietary supplements can’t be sold in Canada until they are assessed for “safety and efficacy” by Health Canada, which encourages consumers to buy only authorized products.

Products for weight loss or increased energy accounted for the most ER visits, according to the study. These caused 72 per cent of problems involving chest pain or irregular heartbeats, and were the culprits in more than half of visits among patients aged five to 34. Sexual-enhancement products also led to cardiac symptoms in many seeking ER help.

“They sound like big numbers but they really aren’t,” Steve Mister of the Council for Responsible Nutrition trade group said of the ER visits. “The risks are so, so small” when you consider the millions who use the products, he said.

Always ask your doctor before taking any supplements.