Chinese Diet Pill Has Same Dangerous Ingredient, Sibutramine, as Meridia

Boston, MAA Chinese weight loss drug that contains sibutramine, the same dangerous ingredient found in the diet pill Meridia, is still being sold over the counter in America despite warnings from the US Food and Drug Administration.

The pill, pai you guo, is still being sold and used, reports the Boston Globe.

"I've been shocked by the use," Dr. Pieter Cohen, an internist, told the news source.

A major study linked the appetite suppressant sibutramine to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke for those with a history of caridovascular disease. In addition to heart attacks and stroke, the side effects of Meridia include uneven heart beat and shortness of breath.

Drugs like Meridia and pai you guo promise consumers a shortcut to weight loss, something that doctors caution doesn't yet exist.

"I find myself saying to patients over and over again, 'If we had a really good weight-loss medicine, you would know, and Americans wouldn't look quite the way they look,'" Dr. Brian Green told the news provider.