A new study has linked the once popular diet drug Hydroxycut to liver damage. The study, published in the latest publication of the American Journal of Gastroenterology, followed 17 cases of Hydroxycut users whose livers had been damaged by use of the diet supplement. Nine of the cases had been reported to the FDA while the other 8 were discovered in the study.
The eight cases led researchers to conclude there was a greater than 95 percent likelihood that the weight-loss aid was to blame. In five cases, the researchers concluded that Hydroxycut was “highly likely” the cause (a 75 to 95 percent chance), while it was probably to blame in two cases (a 50 to 74 percent chance). The last two cases were considered to be possibly linked to Hydroxycut use.
This is the first such scientific study that shows a strong link between the diet drug and actual liver damage. Prior to the publication of this study, no causal link between the drug and liver damage had been established.
Hydroxycut was removed from the market in the spring of 2009 after the FDA received 23 reports of adverse effects associated with Hydroxycut.