Disturbing warning issued over viral ‘Molecule’ weight loss drug
Topics: Health, World News, Russia
Britt Jones
Featured Image Credit: TikTok
Topics: Health, World News, Russia
A new weight loss pills has had many people coming out to warn new users about the effects.
While many have been using weight loss aids like Ozempic (which is intended to treat type 2 diabetes) and Mounjaro, a new pill has been created and it’s making waves. But not in a good way.
Molecule, the new product that promises to help achieve rapid weight loss, has gone viral on Russian TikTok, with users calling out the pill for its side effects.
According to the BBC, one user said she bought the bill online and after two weeks, she suffered from a dry mouth and no appetite.
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She told the outlet: "I had absolutely no desire to eat, let alone drink. I was nervous. I was constantly biting my lips and chewing my cheeks."
Sadly, it began to have a negative impact on her mental health.
Other users online went on to say they noted dilated pupils, tremors and insomnia, and at least three schoolchildren have been hospitalised.
But why is this happening?
According to Business Standard and the BBC, the pills contain a substance called sibutramine, which is banned in countries like the UK and many EU nations for its increased risk of heart attacks and strokes.
According to the BBC report, while the packaging lists natural ingredients like dandelion root and fennel seed extract, an investigation by Russian newspaper Izvestiya found it contains the dangerous substance called sibutramine.
The chemical is still used in Russia, however, to treat obesity in adults via prescription.
To buy it any other way would be illegal, but that hasn’t stopped people and companies selling it illegally.
"Self-administration of this drug is very unsafe," endocrinologist Ksenia Solovieva from St Petersburg told the BBC.
She said this is ‘because we do not know how much of the active ingredient such 'dietary supplements' may contain'.
According to a case report in the National Library of Medicine, a 21-year-old woman ‘without history of cardiovascular diseases developed cardiac arrest’ after she took weight loss pills containing sibutramine and hypokalemia‐inducing agents which she had imported from Thailand after purchasing online.
While she was successfully resuscitated without any lasting neurological impacts, the 2017 report goes on to warn of the dangers of consuming such pills.
In Singapore, two consumers suffered the side effects of sibutramine-containing weight loss pills, leading to scary symptoms.
According to the government, one woman took it for ‘two months and experienced rapid heartbeat, dry mouth and extreme thirst’.
After a friend told her these were ‘normal’ symptoms, she did her own research and became suspicions that it could contain sibutramine and reported it to the Health Sciences Authority.
If you’re going to use weight loss pills, it’s imperative you go to your healthcare provider and do it via legal and safe routes.