Diet food and fenflulamine

　Fenfluramin is a drug approved in U.K. and France as an appetite suppression agent, but has not been approved in Japan. It was previously approved in the United States, but was banned in 1997.
　The structure of fenflulamin has a skeleton of phenethylamine as shown in the figure. This structure is similar to the stimulant amfetamin, and is similar to the structure of ephedolin, which is used as an antioping agent and as a raw material for stimulants. It is said that the action of fenflulamin suppresses appetite by stimulating the central nervous system and stimulating the satiety center. There is a drug called Madindor, an appetizer approved in Japan, but it has a central nervous excitation effect like phenfluramin and is designated as a psychotropic drug. Psychotropic drugs are not drugs that can be purchased easily at pharmacies, but are used under the supervision of a doctor. Fenflulamin is also a medicine that requires the same handling precautions, but it cannot be sold in Japan.

　It became clear that such a medicine was mixed in health tea for slimming in 1996, and measures such as voluntary collection and suspension of sales were taken nationwide. However, recently, there have been cases where fenflulamin was detected in health tea. Most of the healthy teas with fenfluramin detected are mixed with fenfluramin as white granules or powder in the tea leaves, clearly visible to the naked eye. Fenfluramin testing involves the separation of these white granules and powders and confirmation and identification with infrared absorption spectrum analyzers and other analytical instruments.

Finally, the content of feflulamin in health tea is quantified using high-speed liquid chromatography, etc. In 2002, it was reported that in addition to health tea, several Chinese-made health foods also contain phenfluramine. Fenflulamin was also detected in a tablet sold as a health food at our office (pictured).
In the form of a tablet, it is not known whether fenflulamin is mixed in.
　Furthermore, among Chinese health foods, there have been cases where high concentrations of N-nitroso fenflulamine with -NO (nitroso group) in fenflulamine as well as phenflulamine have been detected. As a result of taking these measures, liver damage and fatal accidents also occurred. Until now, there were no research papers on the toxicity and pharmacological activity of N-nitrosophenfluramin, and this substance could not be identified as a cause of liver damage, but an animal experiment published by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in February 2003 A survey report including the results revealed that the cause of liver damage in Chinese health foods was N-nitrosophenfluramin.
　In this way, some health foods do not know what is mixed in. It is not always possible to judge whether to drink or not, but be careful about health hazards.
　Everyone who drinks healthy tea, be careful if you open the tea bag and find white granules or powder in the tea! !