Now, health matters with Daniel Martin. Welcome into Health Matters right here on CN A 938. I'm Daniel Martin. And you heard about it on the news this week on health matters how the Singapore Food Agency has come up to say that it's detected banned substances in three detox slimming food products sold online. Yes. Our good friend Serman has been found to be amongst the ingredients in two of these products and these are limo, a detox slimming sachets and Limo s detox slimming sachets.
We've talked about this over the years ever since Sabin was banned, we have talked about it every now and then popping up some of these food items. Why does it keep doing that? Let's find out more about what we need to understand when it comes to Subbu mean as we encounter this latest banning, we're joined on today's edition by endocrinologist. Doctor Ben, who's from endocrinology. Doctor. Welcome back. I wish under better circumstances. Why do we keep hearing about sub? Ok,
let's start with the basics. Remind everybody what is mean?
Well, see, but was a drug that was introduced in the late 19 nineties. It was introduced as a weight loss therapy. And so let's start by saying it was a very effective weight loss therapy and how it works is that it works within what we call neurotransmitters. So, ultimately, these are little chemicals that we crete and one is the, one of the neurotransmitters. It works on a serotonin. We might have heard of it before is a mood hormone. And what it does is
that Cine affects serotonin. So it suppresses our appetite. So we don't want to eat so much but more dangerously, it affects what we call norepinephrine or a derivative of adrenaline. And we know adrenaline, it makes our heart go faster. And one of the effects of the mean is increases our metabolic rate, our heart goes faster. We produce more heat and therefore people who take a mean actually lose weight.
The concern about it was in 2010, there was a study looking at the effectiveness of sub and the dangers of sub Bruine. And the problem with that is that this study confirmed that anyone who took a dram, although you lost weight, you are at increased risk of developing heart disease and stroke. So because of that, the drug was stopped. And then in most countries are all across Asia Europe and the US, including Singapore. So
why does it keep popping up and turning up in all these weight loss Sachs and products that we keep hearing about it in the news all the time? A, I think because it's just like you said, it was effective in that purpose. So, maybe that's why we find it bleeding into all these products.
Yeah, I think. Absolutely right. 222 components. I think the most important thing is you hit the nail on the head. It works. The problem is with cam is very good at reducing weight and many times we don't see the increased risk of heart disease and stroke, isn't it? You know, because of course, it doesn't affect everyone, but there's an increased risk. So many people, especially the younger people, there's this thing called invincibility bias, isn't it?
You know, I think when we were all a bit younger, it'll never happen to me is that kind of attitude that we have. Therefore, what they see is a, I'm losing weight. Therefore, it must be fine and all these side effects don't apply to me at all. So there's one. So there's a demand, the other one as well is for such an established drug which has been along for a while. The compounded ingredients are known. What I mean by that is that it's very possible for someone with basic
facilities to construct this drug. So you don't need to really go any detail, this the ingredients and the method of preparation is quite available. So if you have some pharmacological knowledge and so forth, you can potentially make it, but that comes with the danger as well. See I mean, I know some of the medications we have are, they can be costly. But one of the reasons why they are a little costly is because they are standards involved.
There's hygiene. There's the fact that if you're taking 1001 g of Panadol, you are getting about 1 g of Panadol. The problem with many of these things is that how much are you actually getting? And is there some quality control or are there any contaminants within the drug itself that can be causing problems?
Why are people willing to take the risk to the point where it could have a very well known impact on your heart disease and stroke risk of other cardiovascular diseases is the root cause. The fact that just so many people and you've encountered many patients in this field as well. Doctor, there are so many people that just need to and want to lose weight the fast way.
Absolutely. I mean, if you look at it, statistics, there was an IPSOS study done around the pandemic time. Shocking, well, not shocking, more than half of Singaporeans want to lose weight. 55% of us want to lose weight. And the problem is I think for all of us who have tried to lose weight before we are not always successful. In fact,
most of us are not. And as due to a variety of reasons, we power lifestyle changes, availability of food and so forth and I suppose the attraction of a drug, listen or what, what is promised to the, to the consumers, all you need to do is pop in this drug and you're going to lose weight magically is very, very attractive. And when someone takes this drug and they actually lose weight, then they say, all right, this is, this is working and I think is all the delivery as well.
The what is not highlighted to many people is the potential side effects and how dangerous this is. I mean, I think for the purpose of the discussion, the supplements that were banned, I am not sure whether s to mean was actually even mentioned in the ingredients. And so many people may have been thinking they were taking natural ingredients and so forth and clearly they didn't know what was inside.
That's the thing. So that's part of the problem. I was gonna ask like, how come it's so easy for people to get access to this? And then you realize it's being marketed in these things that seem to be natural, healthy, inoffensive people don't think of it as medication when it's a weight loss shake and so on and so forth is not the problem when it comes to online medication. I know some people that log on to like I herb and really buy supplements and magnesium and potassium and stuff like that,
an actual medication. But this is like hidden medication in a way.
Absolutely. And I think the issue is all to do with messaging, isn't it? At the end of the day? You know, I'm not against supplements in general. I always say that there should be a reason on why you take the supplements. But I think we have to be very cautious. I mean, we are lucky in Singapore that the mainstream media holds a great influence on people. But there's a huge number of people who listen to social media, all the things that is happening in Tik Tok and so forth.
And the problem is the messaging that's going through here can be quite misleading. People saying that, you know, if you think this is all natural is all safe, but you lose weight with no side effects at all.
I think that that's where the concern is, isn't it that ultimately people are attracted to these options and not really understanding that there is no easy fix to weight reduction that ultimately, you know, that there are always, there are things to their potential side effect even to supply themselves. And we have to be aware of this and
there has to be some regulation involved. The problem with the internet and so forth and availability of online products is that you don't get that the ability to search something to sell something online is very, very difficult to regulate.
Yeah, exactly. Well, I'm just, I'm so tired of seeing weight loss shakes and there's so many of them online and I'm just so tired. I mean, I can understand meal replacement shakes and stuff like that. But can you honestly say, as a doctor, have you ever seen a meal, a weight loss shake that actually works, which doesn't have medication inside. It. Probably not.
Right. I mean, I think that the principle when you talk about weight loss shakes and so forth,
counter to the counter productive.
Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, let's be very clear. No matter what you're taking, as far as weight loss is concerned, you need to put out more than you put in from an energy perspective. You know. So I suppose the meal replacement, if you are not eating the ch and you're taking a meal replacement that
should work. You know, even when it comes down to any form of therapy, whether medication or surgery, the principle is the same, you need to put out more than you put in and if you can't, and that comes at some kind of cost to the human body is not going to be some, I'm just going to
take this. Everything is just going to happen. I'm going to sit down, I can eat what I like and do what I like and I'm going to lose weight and that hasn't happened in my experience and I wish that there was, but there clearly isn't.
We will talk later on a little bit about what actually works when it comes to a medical approach to weight loss, but very quickly, can I touch base in terms of you mentioned, these might be added and they're
working and that's why these are working. But then some people may think, but I look at the ingredient list, why like I don't see listed down there because you bought this thing online and who knows where it's from because it's not necessarily hs a approved, you're not necessarily gonna a recognize or be necessarily see as an ingredient. Correct. Absolutely.
Right. And this is again, where regulation comes in. I think it's so important that, you know, we, we need some kind of protection. We don't know everything, isn't it and how things are marketed, how things are put in together. We are not, we are not always private that information. And, you know, I mean, it's good that this was detected but the FSA can't pick every single thing in the market that's available, test every everything and then make it safe for consumption. I probably
hundreds and thousands of things in the market today. And, you know, this was picked up very diligently, but probably because more and more people were starting to use it. But I'm quite certain that if we, you and I started looking for now on the internet, we'll probably find it
exactly. If we just, I just did a simple search before this interview on weight loss shakes. And there were so many that turned up on my Ecommerce platform. In fact, so I gotta ask you building on that, how can we protect ourselves from unknowingly consuming subtrain? We didn't start out wanting to and then you just end up doing it by mistake. How can we protect ourselves?
I mean, I think that the solution is actually more straightforward than anything but the is the execution. I think we have, first of all, we have to be very cautious where we get our information and where our sources of supplements from. I think that ultimately there has to be regulation and the tips to learn is this, if you start going to these websites, which promise you everything, you're going to lose weight, you're not gonna have any side effects
and and shockingly is working, something is wrong. Ultimately, we have to be very cautious again where we get our information and get something from an approved site if necessary, speak to your doctor, your diet, your qualified dieticians and so forth. Because these are the sources that are correct. And more importantly, they are the ones that are safe. The problem is that many of us we want natural, we want a natural way of losing weight. I can
understand that, but it's difficult. And ultimately, when we are promised some natural supplement, we tend to go for it. So it's all to do with messaging and listening to the right sources, I think, and not believing everything you see or hear So,
should we be using medication as part of the weight loss journey?
I mean, I think there are very many effective weight loss medications out there today. I think there are many, many scientifically proven safe methods of losing weight. The problem is when it comes down to such a general question, the answer depends. I'll give you a simple scenario. General, I imagine you have person a he's overweight, he's got heart failure, he's got diabetes. You got arthritis of the knees and all of this
is caused by his weight. Clearly, he needs medication or surgery because he has very advanced disease versus the other guy who's a little overweight blood pressure a bit high and he's got nothing else. Then you ask yourself, does he really need medication to lose weight because he needs to lose a kilo, 2 kg and he will actually get benefit from that. Then you think because they even the ones that are approved for weight loss, which have been shown to improve heart disease and so forth
and they are safe. There are side effects, nausea being very common, gastrointestinal side effects. And you ask yourself, is it really worth risking a young man or woman with virtually no disease, exposing them to this drug? And we know that many of these medications we try to stop, but we can't. So we are potentially putting a young person, minimal complications on a weight loss drug versus someone who clearly will benefit from it
because he's got so many other issues. So I think that with reducing medication, very useful, very effective but choosing a the right patient for it and that's, and that's something we need to, the doctor needs to talk to the individual, isn't it? You know, because it's very easy for us to say, eat less exercise more, not everyone can do it. So, so I think it has to be an individualized approach. But you do see the complexity here between the two people
already. It's difficult to find the right balance here. But
do the current weight loss medications have the same risks as sibutramine where it could also ironically affect your heart disease as well as stroke risk.
No, certainly not with the body of scientific evidence. Now, I think that they are safer in the sense that they don't cause stroke and heart disease. You will never be approved at the moment. By the end of it, it does have side effect, you know, and the common side is again, gastrointestinal nausea, that sort of thing is common, but there's no end organ damage is in reversible damage
such as heart disease and stroke. So I think that even every drug that you put in your mouth, whether it's for pain relief, whereas for blood pressure, whereas for weight loss, there are side effects and we have to be clear on that. And with any drug, we have
to balance the benefits. What we hope to achieve from the drug and the potential risks of the drug and that has to be balanced very, very closely clearly in the in the line of sub to mean, yes, we know weight loss is good as offers that weight loss. The problem is that it's then counterbalance with that significant increased risk of heart disease and stroke and clearly that balance is unacceptable
just to end us off. Truly. I think what you said earlier on resonates, which is the fact that this is a very well known compound. It's gonna be quite easy for people at manufacture and synthesize. We're probably gonna see it turn up in online items
every now and then. I've been talking about it for years on the show and it just keeps popping up the bottom line is where the first line of defense because facing the ecommerce world, it's about us in terms of what don't look for the miracle drink and obviously be keenly aware about something that's too good to be true, especially when it comes to weight loss.
Absolutely. And I think the important thing is my best advice would be, as you say, if it sounds too good to be true is probably not true. Second of all, be very aware, I mean, that the source, especially when you talk about medication or supplementation that causes weight reduction, there is no easy fix. So if something seems too easy, it's probably, it's probably too easy. And I think the sources of information that we get from social media and all that very attractive the way they
do things nowadays. Absolutely incredible.
We, I did a story in some of the reviews are being written by A I now.
Oh, that's amazing. So you see that, so the problems you can't really trust everything you see online. So I think coming to the mainstream sources of information is very, very important and relying on the professionals such as your health care provider, your gp's your specialist. Those are the ones I think you probably need to put your trust in rather than someone who's posing on
Instagram or Tik Tok. And we don't really know whether they actually, they say what they are, what they say, what they mean, or they're advertising, what we think they are advertising.
Absolutely. And also what you're saying is listening to health matters and any show I do because 18 years of running, that's the health professional. Hey, doctor, thank you so much. Appreciate your time today. Doctor, be endocrinologist from endocrinology, reminding us about the dangers of Sebum. Now it's just popped up in two more weight loss shakes that have been identified by the Singapore. The S fa actually, you can read about it on CN A
dot Asia. Now, we know of course, a little bit more about how we can protect ourselves against unknowingly consuming sin. It's health matters. I'm Daniel Martin. Thanks for joining me before making any decisions. Based on the information in our program, please consult a medical professional.