A father-of-two from WA was given two weeks to live after taking weight loss that caused his liver to fail.
Matthew Whitby just wanted to get fit so he bought protein shakes supplied by BSc. The protein powder was called HydroxyBurn Elite and contained green tea extract.
After a week of taking the shakes, he felt extremely fatigued and suffered jaundice.
The 27-year-old said: “After about two-and-a-half weeks, I stopped taking it. That’s when I got weakness, fatigue … a month or two after I got the jaundice, yellow eyes and skin.”
“I just felt weak. Just everyday activities were getting pretty hard. I just wasn’t getting through the day without a nap and stuff and I knew something was pretty wrong at that point.”
Within three months he was rushed to hospital, where doctors told him his liver was failing. This was caused by the supplement containing garcinia cambogia, a citrus fruit from Southeast Asia that is used in weight-loss supplements.
Whitby was told his only choice was to accept an emergency liver transplant from a man who had hepatitis B.
“I have to take a tablet everyday for the rest of my life, but I’m just grateful to be here,” Mr Whitby told news.com.au.
“I did a bit of research before [buying the powder]. It had good reviews and because it was Australian I felt more confident buying it.”
“I didn’t think something you could buy online or just over the counter did the damage that it did to me. They didn’t say anything about ‘could cause liver failure’,” he said.
The makers of the protein powder released a statement that said they weren’t aware of the case and that Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) had not notified them of the affects.
The statement read: “In the 14 years we have been producing protein powders with added herbal extracts we have not been notified of any adverse events.”
“The individual was notably taking a garcinia cambogia supplement as well, which was not our product.
“Based on 14 years of well tolerated use of our product range, we will not be reconsidering our use of green tea extract.”
Whitby and his two kids
Whitby is urging others to be well aware of the effects weight-loss supplements have.
“Do your research and ask your doctor about the product before taking it. I wouldn’t recommend shakes in general, just diet and exercise,” he told news.com.au.
“Hopefully [my case] will convince people to do it the natural way. I learnt that the hard way.”
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