Health Ministry Issues Warning on Several Dietary Supplements

The Ministry of Health & Wellness (MOHW) has issued an urgent warning to the public regarding the circulation of tainted dietary supplements in several districts across Belize. The advisory follows alerts from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Mexico’s Comisión Federal para la Protección contra Riesgos Sanitarios (COFEPRIS), and Spain’s Agencia Española de Medicamentos y Productos Sanitarios (AEMPS), along with an independent investigation by Belizean health officials. According to the MOHW, the affected supplements include Artri King, Artribion, Artri Ajo King, and Vitaferr – L, which have been found to contain undeclared substances that may pose serious health risks. Love News spoke with Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa, Director of Public Health and Wellness explained that they became aware of it by patients who suffered ailments that were directly linked to the usage of the said supplements. 

Dr. Melissa Diaz Musa, Director of Public Health and Wellness, Ministry of Health and Wellness: “We’re of course members of the World Health Organization committees that monitor falsified and they also monitor sub standard products and because we’re a part of this WHO committee we do get regular alerts on a daily basis not only from WHO but we do get alerts from the FDA, from the COFEPRIS which stands for the Comisión Federal para la Protección contra Riesgos Sanitarios so basically it’s the federal commission for the protection of health risk and we do get alerts from a Spanish agency that similarly looks at falsified products and substandard products. So with regards to these supplements it came about with one of our clinicians who was seeing patients with certain symptoms. After looking at what the patients were taking, I think there were two patients in total they found out that patents were taking these supplements. So we went back and looked at alerts and we did….we have a surveillance team through the Drug Inspectorate Unit that they would comb Facebook, look at Instagram, look at what is being advertised in the public, visit market places etc and see what’s being sold. And so they did their investigation and found that these products were available in Belize and were being marketed especially on social media and in smaller businesses. Because of this and because of the alerts once we looked at our file and our system saw that COFIPRIS did send out the alert with regards to some of these supplements and so did the Mexican agency and so did FDA. So we knew then that we needed to do a press release and we needed to warn the public with regards to taking these supplements.”

These products have reportedly been distributed in Cayo, Orange Walk, Stann Creek, and Belize districts. Dr. Diaz-Musa explained that the ministry has cautioned that consuming these supplements could lead to severe health complications due to the presence of unlisted pharmaceutical ingredients. As a precautionary measure, the ministry is advising the public to avoid purchasing or consuming these products. 

Dr. Melissa Diaz Musa, Director of Public Health and Wellness, Ministry of Health and Wellness: “The first three were marketed as supplements that will help with arthritis and aches and pains. Just a general almost like a multivitamin or supplements that help the body’s functions and the Vitofur was like marketed as a supplement that helps to lift mood and give you energy and to just something that would help you with your day to day living. So these weren’t really marketed for weight lifting or anything of the sort. The ingredients that these supplements have listed of course does not have that it has tainted with another medication and this other medication you need a prescription in order to utilize the ingredient that’s not listed here. So for example ArtiKing has listed supplements like glucosamine, vitamin C, Omega 3 but it doesn’t have that it has an additional ingredient that can cause signs and symptoms. And for that reason the Ministry of Health and Wellness placed this press release out to warn the population not to purchase medications from social media platforms and not to purchase medications from unauthorized dealers or unauthorized pharmacies. So it’s important that when you purchase medication you ensure that medication is purchased from licensed pharmacists and from authorized distributors.”

Anyone who comes in contact with the products are encouraged to report them to the Ministry of Health & Wellness by emailing drugalerts@health.gov.bz.