FDA Issues Warning on Weight Loss Pill Sold Through Amazon

The supplements were sold through other websites, the FDA says.

Signage outside of the Food and Drug Administration headquarters in White Oak, M.d., on Aug. 29, 2020. Andrew Kelly/Reuters

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned that certain supplements sold on Amazon and elsewhere could contain a toxic substance that could cause “severe, or even fatal” adverse health effects.

In a notice last week, the FDA said that certain supplements labeled as tejocote, also known Mexican hawthorn and the Latin name Crataegus mexicana, may be adulterated after an analysis found they were substituted with yellow oleander, or Cascabela thevetia, which is a poisonous plant. Tejocote is sometimes billed as a weight-loss supplement.