Docs Warn Against

Docs Warn Against 'Skinny Pill' for Kids

A $40 diet supplement for children being sold over the Internet contains herbal substances that could cause permanent organ damage, health experts tell CNN.

The so-called "skinny pill for kids" contains three herbs -- uva ursi, juniper berry, and buchu leaf -- that act as diuretics, meaning they cause the body to lose water.

While the Physicians' Desk Reference urges doctors not to give such products to children under age 12 due to concerns about possible kidney and liver damage, the "skinny pill" is being marketed to children ages 6 to 12, CNN says. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not regulate alternative medicines, and steps in only if a product is proven unsafe.

The network reports that the marketer of the supplement says that although her company has not performed safety tests on children, she insists that the product is "perfectly safe." Experts cited by CNN disagree, insisting that not only is the product dangerous, there's no proof that it works -- either in children or among older people who take a similar product formulated for adults.

Warns Keith Ayoob, a spokesman for the American Dietetic Association: "It's not going to help people lose weight. It's junk science."

-- Felicity Stone

Back