Consumers Warned Against Diet Coffee

[webfact]

Consumers warned against diet coffee

By The Nation

Certain brands of diet coffee contain weight-loss chemicals that may cause drinkers with health problems to have heart attacks, a Chiang Mai seminar on consumer protection was told yesterday.

The speakers, mostly activists working with various consumer-protection bodies, also expressed concerns about extensive availability of diet coffee at cosmetics shops and in the food-supplements sections of department stores, as well as through online advertising.

A laboratory-based examination of a local diet-coffee brand in Chiang Mai found that it contained sibutramine, an oral anorexiant (drug that suppresses appetite). Until recently it was marketed and prescribed as an adjunct in the treatment of exogenous obesity - that caused by overeating - along with diet and exercise. It has been associated with increased cardiovascular events and strokes and has been withdrawn from the market in many countries, including Thailand.

"The use of sibutramine is permitted only in controlled diets in certified clinics and only through prescription by doctors," said a senior government pharmacist, Phison Sribundit. He advised consumers of diet coffee to stop drinking it if it caused excessive heartbeats or rapid weight loss.

"Sibutramine can cause a heart attack if consumed for lengthy periods," he said.

Although not all brands of diet coffee contain weight-loss chemicals, other substances may be included, such as high-fibre ingredients, which are mixed in but not identified clearly on labels. These substances have lured consumers into buying these products.

Phison said FDA logos did not necessarily mean that foods and other products were certified by the Food and Drugs Administration.

"In certain cases, the owners of products have obtained FDA approvals in advance, and later illegally put other messages on the packages, other than those for which they sought permission," he said.

The seminar also discussed other consumer-protection complaints made to authorities in Chiang Mai, including television advertising of flavour-enhancing powders using child actors and fitness centres that exploit clients by providing ambiguous details about conditions of services.

-- The Nation 2011-05-03

[bbeaver1]

So tell me. What brands?

[RedNIvar]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is Diet Coffee?

[Thaddeus]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is Diet Coffee?

It's an alternative for people who don't want a Diet Coke with their Quarter Pounder and Large Fries.

[maswov]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is Diet Coffee?

Read the article and not just the headline.

[exbelg]

sooooooooooooo funny

only in thailand

coffee contains 0 calories

no need to go cheat yourself in expensive bullcheeze brands

is there no food and drugs agency in thailand (that actually works and do their job they are paid for) to ban those illegal products ?

i guess they work as good as all other governmental agencies

[Crossy]

I too would like to know which particular brands are affected, Wifey drinks this stuff

[Phil Conners]

Diet coffee is not about how many calories it contains but it contains drugs such as sibutramine that help you lose weight. "Sibutramine can cause a heart attack if consumed for lengthy periods,". This is what the article is about.

[jfchandler]

Good job... The Nation....

Article warning on possible health risks from banned drug containing diet coffees...

But no mention of what brand or brands include those banned substances...

And how exactly are those products being produced and sold in Thailand, if they contain a drug that's been banned from use here....

That's a rhetorical question, of course, because the answer is already known. There is no functioning consumer protection/regulatory system here...

[Thai at Heart]

sooooooooooooo funny

only in thailand

coffee contains 0 calories

no need to go cheat yourself in expensive bullcheeze brands

is there no food and drugs agency in thailand (that actually works and do their job they are paid for) to ban those illegal products ?

i guess they work as good as all other governmental agencies

It has no calories until they put 3 spoons of sugar and 2 spoons of creamer in a cup of coffee the same size as served in Barbies dolls house.

[Member]

diet coffee in thailand is usually multilevel marketing business, fool your friends and you receive a bonus when they fool their friends, especially office girls love this business.

[EdDantes]

diet coffee in thailand is usually multilevel marketing business, fool your friends and you receive a bonus when they fool their friends, especially office girls love this business.

Exactly, besides office girls, disturbing numbers of university students and even secondary school kids now are into mlm online with their mobiles. Foreign mlm companies with local partners have held hotel seminar/parties in LOS complete with dolly girls and alcohol to lure students into the borderline ponzi world with the promise of get rich quick. A few early winners at the top of the pyramid are photographed with leased flash cars and waving wads of baht, these images are circulated widely in the recruitment drive.

It's sad to see young people neglect their studies, going at each others throats, and risking association with dodgy types thanks to the greed of charlatans, but then they're not all too fussy about what they're selling, diet coffee is a drop in the ocean of dodgy crap they're selling.

The students set up multiple social networking accounts, often using a scantily clad female in the profile pic, and are so desperate to recruit and sell that they accept all friend requests. This has led some to have online friends which include pornsite click peddlers, and seeing that material makes it less of a mental jump for students to show ever more revealing photos of themselves in an attempt to sell it with sex.

The most disturbing aspect however is the other group they're come into contact with online - the sex for sale operators. You can bet that factory draw where sex with a student was the prize is the tip of the iceberg, kids online looking for cash are easy prey, and we're going to see a lot more scandals linked to mlm.

Edited May 3, 2011 by EdDantes

[maxtingtong]

Very popular around here.. I guess mostly any diet coffee contain some weird stuff, but them can't write it because has been proved only in one or two

[housepainter]

Why can't people just stick to the safe stuff like ice, crystal meth, cocaine and heroine without going off the deep end and risking it all with a cup of Joe.

I mean this stuff is serious. You could lose weight. And it makes it plain that over a long period it can lead to strokes and heart attacks. Imagine these folks in a few years time, say aged in their 80s suffering from strokes and heart attacks and all because they were at it with diet coffee instead of diet coke which would have finished them off years before through diabetes.

Some one needs to save us from coffee. From diets. At least with marujana it lead to class one narcotic abuse. But not coffee. No one went down that road. Until now. Straight into donuts, coffee shops, hours whiled away talking shine with your buddies and ogling the waitress. What kind of life is that?

I'm only grateful I'm single and don't have kids but do have a heroin habit, which confines me to home, a trailer, and welfare. As for weight loss, it's never been a problem, but then I don't own a TV either. Have seen those commercials? Killers. A real killer for you and try watching UBC. There's a commercial every 7 minutes. Try watching that Animal Planet; the programme keeps interupting the ads!

Birdy. Death in a can. Believe me. And................... have you ever seen a fat guy drinking it?

I rest my case.

[jimbeam1]

I too would like to know which particular brands are affected, Wifey drinks this stuff

+1 Looks like time to start checking the labels, then a google search?

jb1

[surangw]

they will name the brands soon ( the ones that do not donate to the tea fund)

[ozzieovaseas]

diet coffee in thailand is usually multilevel marketing business, fool your friends and you receive a bonus when they fool their friends, especially office girls love this business.

Exactly, besides office girls, disturbing numbers of university students and even secondary school kids now are into mlm online with their mobiles. Foreign mlm companies with local partners have held hotel seminar/parties in LOS complete with dolly girls and alcohol to lure students into the borderline ponzi world with the promise of get rich quick. A few early winners at the top of the pyramid are photographed with leased flash cars and waving wads of baht, these images are circulated widely in the recruitment drive.

It's sad to see young people neglect their studies, going at each others throats, and risking association with dodgy types thanks to the greed of charlatans, but then they're not all too fussy about what they're selling, diet coffee is a drop in the ocean of dodgy crap they're selling.

The students set up multiple social networking accounts, often using a scantily clad female in the profile pic, and are so desperate to recruit and sell that they accept all friend requests. This has led some to have online friends which include pornsite click peddlers, and seeing that material makes it less of a mental jump for students to show ever more revealing photos of themselves in an attempt to sell it with sex.

The most disturbing aspect however is the other group they're come into contact with online - the sex for sale operators. You can bet that factory draw where sex with a student was the prize is the tip of the iceberg, kids online looking for cash are easy prey, and we're going to see a lot more scandals linked to mlm.

cant even have a conversation about coffee without sex coming into it..

b*gger it, im going to go get me some of that Birdie three-on-one

[GooEng]

I too would like to know which particular brands are affected, Wifey drinks this stuff

+1 Looks like time to start checking the labels, then a google search?

jb1

+2 - offshore now but just had skype chat to the wife about the stuff she drinks and she's confirmed it makes her heart race if she does two cups in succession and that neither her mum nor her aunt can drink it cos it makes them feel sweaty, flushed and uncomfortable.

the stuff she's drinking comes in a swirly patterned reddish coloured old styled tea bag type flip-top tin with some chinese characters on the tin. no idea where it comes from though, or what it's got in it, she called it "chinese herbs", and at 280 baht for 28 bags i wasn't bothered to investigate thinking that if it had any active ingrdients it would cost more than that...

i was initially sceptical about it, thinking it was just a scam, but she HAS lost a lot of the weight she gained after the second baby.....

worried now...

[MaiChai]

I can't think of anything worse to drink than coffee when dieting... I mean you reduce your food intake, have an empty rubmling stomach, then you go drink coffee! Madness.

If people want to loose weight you need to stop putting food in your mouth and get into regular exercise. The food reduction thing is probably a big hurdle for food loving Thais? So the answer is keep eating food and use some crazy medicine to loose weight?

[cardholder]

"Phison said FDA logos did not necessarily mean that foods and other products were certified by the Food and Drugs Administration".

OMG !!

Don't say someone is cheating again.

[surayu]

The "Die coffee"...where else if not in "T" ?

[MZurf]

I too would like to know which particular brands are affected, Wifey drinks this stuff

Mine too. I've tried without much success to tell her that the only sustainable way to lose weight is to burn more calories than you consume. Hard to compete with these heavily advertised "short-cuts".

But she's not gonna drink that stuff anymore!

[Thaddeus]

If people want to loose weight you need to stop putting food in your mouth and get into regular exercise. The food reduction thing is probably a big hurdle for food loving Thais? So the answer is keep eating food and use some crazy medicine to loose weight?

As I used to say to my first wife (English) "No darling, it isn't water retention, it's cake retention"

[SantiSuk]

I too would like to know which particular brands are affected, Wifey drinks this stuff

+1 Looks like time to start checking the labels, then a google search?

jb1

+2 - offshore now but just had skype chat to the wife about the stuff she drinks and she's confirmed it makes her heart race if she does two cups in succession and that neither her mum nor her aunt can drink it cos it makes them feel sweaty, flushed and uncomfortable.

the stuff she's drinking comes in a swirly patterned reddish coloured old styled tea bag type flip-top tin with some chinese characters on the tin. no idea where it comes from though, or what it's got in it, she called it "chinese herbs", and at 280 baht for 28 bags i wasn't bothered to investigate thinking that if it had any active ingrdients it would cost more than that...

i was initially sceptical about it, thinking it was just a scam, but she HAS lost a lot of the weight she gained after the second baby.....

worried now...

I had a similar reaction. My wife has been buying tins by the gross at the Cambodian border and selling it all around the village. Time for me to show an interest in what the hell this stuff is!! Luckily the border conflict seems to have curtailed her activities.