A 19-year-old girl claims she nearly died after taking herbal diet pills that made her throw up so much they ripped her stomach lining.
In August, Taylor Hannah wanted to get into shape (the medication she was on for her bipolar disorder made her weight balloon) so she bought green tea extracts and fat metabolisers from supplement store Holland & Barrett.
After she’d been taking the pills for six months, she was rushed to hospital from severe dehydration.
“No amount of water would fix it. I was drinking up to six or seven litres of water a day and nothing helped. Doctors told me the caffeine from the diet pills could have caused the dehydration,” Taylor, from Scotland, said.
“I almost died … and needed to be put on a fluid drip due to excessive vomiting. I was really ill, couldn’t move and had chest pains.”
“I have now found out they have torn my stomach lining.”
The pills were Nature’s Garden green tea extract and Nutrition HQ’s fat metabolisers.
She lost almost half of her body weight from just taking the pills and being unwell, she lost even more.
A spokesperson for Holland & Barrett said: “All our products are manufactured to the highest standards, used by tens of thousands of people every day.”
“We have never received a complaint of this kind from these products before.”
They continued: “Certain products we sell, including weight management supplements, do carry an on-pack warning instructing customers to consult their GP if, for example, they are already taking prescribed medicines.”
“Clearly we are concerned to hear of any customer reportedly becoming unwell, and we would always urge customers to seek advice from our team of nutritionists or trained store staff.”
Taylor later found out that just one green tea tablet is equivalent to five cups of green tea.
She says she can only have milk and yogurt, as other food or drinks can cause her stomach to swell and make her sick.
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