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Two more deaths are reported in the Japan supplement scare

Writer's picture: AfriHKaAfriHKa

The Japanese drugmaker said on Mar 26, 2024, that it was investigating a death that could be potentially linked to the recalled products. Image: Screenshot from Kobayashi Pharmaceutical's website


A Japanese drugmaker whose dietary supplements are at the centre of a growing health scare reported on Thursday two more deaths potentially related to its tablets.



Last week, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical recalled three supplement brands – "Beni Koji Choleste Help" and two others – after customer complaints of kidney problems.


The over-the-counter products contain an ingredient called red yeast rice, or "beni koji", which is supposed to help lower cholesterol.


Thursday's announcement brings the total number of deaths under investigation by the company and health ministry to four, with more than 100 other people hospitalised.


"We were told yesterday by a bereaved family that a person who had been using Choleste Help had passed away due to kidney disease," the drugmaker said in a statement.


It added it had been told separately that another person who had used Choleste Help in recent years had died.


"We are in the process of confirming the facts and causal relationships in both of these cases," the statement said.


"However, we decided to make this report public from the viewpoint of prompt disclosure."


Medical studies describe red yeast rice as an alternative to statins for lowering high cholesterol but also warn of a risk of organ damage depending on its chemical composition.


Kobayashi Pharmaceutical sells a wide range of health products marketed through television adverts in Japan.


Government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Thursday that authorities were doing "their utmost to ensure food safety, including identifying the substance that caused the health harm and how it became present in the product".


The government has ordered various health-food makers to review their products, while informing foreign countries about the issue through Japan's embassies, he said.


Source: AFP





日本補充劑恐慌中又有兩人死亡



一家日本製藥商的膳食補充劑是日益嚴重的健康恐慌的中心,週四報告稱,又有兩例死亡可能與其藥片有關。


上週,在顧客投訴腎臟問題後,小林製藥召回了三個補充劑品牌——「Beni Koji Choleste Help」和另外兩個品牌。


這些非處方產品含有一種名為紅麴或「紅麴」的成分,據說有助於降低膽固醇。

週四的公告使該公司和衛生部正在調查的死亡人數達到四人,另有 100 多人住院治療。


該製藥商在一份聲明中表示: “昨天,一位死者家屬告訴我們,一名一直在使用 Choleste Help 的人因腎臟疾病去世。”


它還補充說,另一名近年來使用過 Choleste Help 的人已經死亡。

聲明中寫道: “我們正在確認這兩起案件的事實和因果關係。”


“不過,從及時披露的角度來看,我們決定公開這份報告。”


醫學研究將紅曲米描述為他汀類藥物的替代品,可降低高膽固醇,但也警告其存在器官損傷的風險,具體取決於其化學成分。


小林製藥在日本銷售透過電視廣告銷售的各種保健產品。


政府發言人林吉正週四表示,當局正在「盡最大努力確保食品安全,包括查明造成健康危害的物質以及它如何出現在產品中」。


他說,政府已下令多家保健食品製造商審查其產品,同時透過日本大使館向外國通報此議題。 (法新社)

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