Dietary supplements taken-off shelves on reports of drug contamination

Following a report that found several readily available health dietary supplements possibly contained an untested substance, Vitamin Shoppe has confirmed the immediate removal of any products with the ingredient Acacia rigidula. 

According to the results of a study published this week, in many cases where this natural ingredient was listed, the products actually contained BMPEA – an amphetamine-like compound that was not only untested but was also suspected to be unsafe for human consumption.

''If these findings are confirmed by the FDA, these products should not be sold as dietary supplements,'' read the press release from Vitamin Shoppe this week.

BMPEA was created in a laboratory in the 1930s and was initially designed to function as an amphetamine replacement.

Though several products closely related to or containing amphetamine-like compounds are prescribed for many conditions including ADHD, BMPEA had never undergone official testing and could not therefore be considered safe for human use.

What was worse was, products containing significant doses of BMPEA did not list the ingredient, but rather claimed to contain Acacia rigidula plant extract instead.

According to the study, published Tuesday in the journal Drug Testing and Analysis, 21 supplements labeled as containing Acacia rigidula, a type of shrub native to Texas were tested, out of which 11 were found to contain  BMPEA, an isomer of amphetamine whose effect on humans has never been studied.

Similar findings had been reported by the Food and Drug Administration, two years ago in a little-paublicised study published in the Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis.

In a statement to Reuters, FDA spokeswoman said the agency's review of products containing BMPEA ''does not identify a specific safety concern at this time.'' She added that ensuring supplement safety is their ''first priority'' and that the agency will consider taking regulatory action, if appropriate.

According to Roy Gerona, a clinical chemist at University of California-San Francisco and a coauthor of the study, it was dangerous for the FDA not to keep consumers in the dark about BMPEA, which bears a close resemblance to the powerful stimulant amphetamine.

Though  BMPEA has not been tested for its effects, other amphetamine stimulants are known to up blood pressure, cause cardiovascular complications, suppress sleep and appetite and can be addictive.

Only in the case of three supplements was the chemical indicated on labels, but none of thesespecified the amount of BMPEA in each pill, according to the study.