In the most recent publication of Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hepatology, Herbalife is being linked to the potential cause of death of a 24 year old female in India who consumed three Herbalife products a day for two months.
In the case report titled, "Slimming to the Death: Herbalife®-Associated Fatal Acute Liver Failure—Heavy Metals, Toxic Compounds, Bacterial Contaminants and Psychotropic Agents in Products Sold in India," the authors link Herbalife products to fatal acute liver failure, the cause of death of a 24 year old in the Asia-Pacific region.
The report indicates an analysis of Herbalife products showed the they contained the following:
- Heavy metal contamination
- Toxic compounds
- Psychotropic substances
- Pathogenic bacterial contamination
The report also indicates Herbalife-associated liver injury was reported from multiple countries in the West, with an emphasis on India, the fastest growing market for Herbalife products.
To read the report, visit this link.
Fitness Informant's POV
I cannot say with 100% certainty that Herbalife caused the death in this young women. I will leave that to people way more qualified than myself. I have always held the stance that when something bad like this happens, the first thing people point to are exogenous supplements people take because it's the easiest answer, the lazy answer.
What I will say is I have been talking about Herbalife, and other MLM companies, for quite some time. The way their business is structured, with the commissions and the payouts, requires the companies to make cheap, low quality products at minimal costs and then sell them at a high cost in order to pay downstream revenues. It would not shocked me if this report is true.
India is one of the most malnourished regions on the planet. The most malnourished are adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating women and children. More than 1/3 of the worlds malnourished children live in India. Herbalife saw this as an opportunity to provide products that could help resolve malnourishment in the Indian (and western region) populations.
If this is proven to be verified as factual information, and Herbalife products are the cause of death in this young women, along with the analysis of Herbalife products supporting issues that can lead to acute liver failure, then the company should be dealt with accordingly.
This is not the first time Herbalife has come under fire. The company was sued multiple times for it's business structure, as recently as the summer of 2018 where they were being sued for $1 billion in a Miami courtroom. This is, however, the first time to my knowledge, that the company has been tied to a fatality per a report.
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