FDA warns on Hydroxycut

The Food and Drug Administration said Friday that the dietary supplement Hydroxycut has been linked to twenty-three reports of serious liver damage and one death. If you have any of this stuff on your shelf, Iovate Health Sciences, the company that makes it, says you can bring the product back to the store where you bought it for a full refund.

According to the FDA, at least nine million packages of Hydroxycut were sold last year in retail outlets including grocery stores and pharmacies.

Hydroxycut was advertised as made from "natural" ingredients, but that doesn't prove it's good for you. Arsenic is a natural ingredient but it's not something you should sprinkle on your breakfast cereal.

You ought to know, if you don't already, that dietary supplements are not fully regulated by the FDA and don't have to be certified as "safe and effective" before they can be sold to consumers.

Buyer beware.

Here's a link to the FDA's press release: http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2009/NEW02006.html

And here's a list of the products being recalled by Iovate Health Sciences:

Hydroxycut Regular Rapid Release Caplets
Hydroxycut Caffeine-Free Rapid Release Caplets
Hydroxycut Hardcore Liquid Caplets
Hydroxycut Max Liquid Caplets
Hydroxycut Regular Drink Packets
Hydroxycut Caffeine-Free Drink Packets
Hydroxycut Hardcore Drink Packets (Ignition Stix)
Hydroxycut Max Drink Packets
Hydroxycut Liquid Shots
Hydroxycut Hardcore RTDs (Ready-to-Drink)
Hydroxycut Max Aqua Shed
Hydroxycut 24
Hydroxycut Carb Control
Hydroxycut Natural

As tempting as it is to buy a wonder-product that will melt those pounds away, there's really nothing that beats the simple magic of calorie counting. It's healthy, it's easy, and it's free. And according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine, it works better than any other diet strategy.