The FDA has just issued a consumer warning to avoid the vitamin B supplement, Healthy Life Chemistry by Purity First B-50, after preliminary lab tests found that it contains anabolic steroids.
The supplement, manufactured by the New York-based company Mira Health Products Ltd, contains methasterone, a steroid categorized as a controlled substance, as well as dimethazine, which is composed of two steroids bound by a nitrogen atom.
These steroids do not appear on the supplement’s ingredient label, and were only discovered after the FDA received 29 complaints of people experiencing symptoms including muscle cramps, fatigue and liver and thyroid trouble after using it.
Women also reported missed menstrual cycles and abnormal hair growth, and men reported low testosterone and impotence after taking Healthy Life Chemistry by Purity First B-50. According to the FDA, several people have been hospitalized, but luckily, no deaths have been reported.
FDA regulators are urging anyone who has used this supplement and experienced symptoms to seek medical attention and report their symptoms.
Howard Sklamberg, director of the FDA’s compliance office, stated, “products marketed as a vitamin but which contain undisclosed steroids pose a real danger to consumers and are illegal.” The use of steroids has been linked to liver and kidney damage, as well as blood clotting disorders including deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism.
Mira Health Products Ltd has so far issued no response to the FDA’s warning. While vitamins and other supplements are not regulated by the FDA, and are not checked pre-release unless they are using a new ingredient, the FDA does have the legal right to pull supplements off the shelves.
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