Child poisoned after eating deadly plant mislabeled as dietary supplement

Enlarge / YELLOW oleander. Getty | FlowerPhotos

Last September, A New Jersey infant obtained hold of A bottle of weight loss supplements. THE product, bought by THE the toddler the mothers, was labeled as THE dried root of tejocote, a.k.a Mexican hawthorn, A big shrub-shaped factory find In Mexico And Latin America that product similar to a crabapple tree fruits. Although There is little data on THE effects of THE dried root, including any of them proof It is to use For weight loss—tejocote East in general considered on has consume.

But THE infant Soon experimented nausea And vomiting. HAS A emergency department, doctors note weak heart rate, fall blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, And A witness anomaly on A electrocardiogram.

THE weight loss extra charge was, In do, not harmless tejocote root—he was entirely pieces of YELLOW oleander, A toxic factory containing cardiac glycosides, including A toxic cardenolide, that can cause dysrhythmia And cardiac Stop, among other things.

THE emergency department doctors doesn't know This. But, uncertain of What was going on, they contacted THE New Jersey Poison Information And Education System (NJPIES), WHO help figure he out. THE NJPIES recommended A blood test For digoxin, A type of cardenolide. THE test income positive, indicating cardenolide toxicity, And THE infant was SO given A digoxin overdose antidote – specific to digoxin antibody fragments.

Fortunately, THE infant restored, but THE NJPIES was not do. In A case report published THURSDAY, THE New Jersey doctors And toxicology experts reported purchase ten tejocote some products sold online as weight loss supplements And essay them. THE some products were tested by Flora Research Laboratories, which specializes In Analyzing THE chemical constituents of supplements. In This case, THE business used very high pressure liquid chromatography–precise mass time of flight mass spectrometry analysis, And consulted with A ethnobotanist.

"Very toxic"

Nine of THE ten some products tested were YELLOW oleander, with No trace of tejocote, according to has THE case report, which appears In THE Centers For Disease Control And Prevention Morbidity And Mortality Weekly Report. THE product ingested by THE infant was sold as Eva Nutrition Mexican Tejocote Root, which can easily be find online, including on Amazon. Other YELLOW containing oleander some products included those sold as Alipotec tejocote root pieces, Elf Alipotec Mexican tejocote root pieces, Niwali tejocote Mexican root pieces, Science Alpha Mexican tejocote root pieces, And Tejocotex tejocote root pieces, THE report found.

THE discovery East particularly disturbing Since just last week, THE Food And Medicine Administration extended A warning of other types of botanical weight loss products—sold as Aleurites Moluccas seeds, a.k.a candle nuts, that were YELLOW oleander, too.

THE agency note that A person In Maryland was hospitalized After consuming Nut Diet Max. brand Nuez of there India seeds, which turned out has be YELLOW oleander. THE agency said mislabeled some products can be sold as "botanical food," "India Nuts For Weight Loss," "slimming seeds," "India seeds For weight loss," Or "diet seeds." Two businesses, Nut Diet Max. And Todorganic Natural Some products, to have issued voluntary reminds.

"Ingestion of YELLOW oleander can cause neurological, gastrointestinal And cardiovascular negative health effects that can be severe, Or even fatal," THE FDA warned. "Symptoms can include nausea, vomiting, dizziness, diarrhea, abdominal pain, cardiac changes, dysrhythmia, And more."

"For public health civil servants, This East concerning because these supplements contain A very toxic substance And are easily available Since several retailers", THE New Jersey experts wrote. They exhorted clinicians seeing the patients with symptoms look like cardiac glycoside toxicity has ask them about weight loss supplements.