"A nutritional supplement ruined my liver"

Jim McCants took green tea capsules to stay healthy in adulthood. But his doctors told him that he needed an urgent liver transplant.

This should have been one of the happiest days of his life. But Jim McCants recalls, with mixed feelings, the high school exit of his youngest son. When he sat next to his wife Cathleen in the university auditorium, outside Dallas, Texas, he turned to to look at it.

"She said," Do you feel good? " Jim remembers. "I said," Yes, I feel good, why? "" Your face is yellow, your eyes are yellow, you look terrible. "When I looked at myself in the mirror, it was shocking." Jim, 50 years old at the time, was working to improve his lifestyle and lose weight, focusing on a healthy and healthy diet. exercising regularly

"My father had a heart attack at 59 years old. years and did not do it, "says Jim." We lost a lot of things and I was determined to do what I could to take care of myself as much as possible so I did not miss anything. " shortly after graduation from his son, Jim entered the hospital due to an alleged liver injury.

Trying to identify the cause of the injury at the Jim's liver, the doctors who treated him have ruled out alcohol. "In the last 30 years, I've been drinking maybe a pack of six beers a year, but no wine , so alcohol was not present for most of my life, "says Jim, who also threw prescription drugs (he had not taken any at that time). and the cigarette, something that he had never done before.

"Then my hepatologist asked a series of questions about
OTC Supplements, "says Jim. As part of his life to take care of his health in middle age, Jim had started taking medication.
a green tea supplement, because I had heard that it could have heart benefits.

These supplements have gained popularity in recent years, often touted without rest online for their antioxidant benefits and their supposed ability to help lose weight prevent cancer. "I felt good at the time," recalls Jim, who lives in Prosper, north of Dallas. "I walked or ran for 30 to 60 minutes, five or six days a week." He worked as a CFO, but he hoped to train as a physician's badistant. "I took two or three clbades at once in the evenings and weekends," he recalls.

] He took the green tea supplement for two or three months when he got sick. According to Jim's medical record, this is the presumed cause of his liver damage. "It was shocking because I had only heard about the benefits," Jim recalls. "I had heard of no problem."

After entering the hospital, Jim went into a "pattern of waiting", waiting for the results of a series of blood tests to establish the severity of his injury hepatic.

Then, about three weeks after his wife noticed for the first time that he looked sick, one of his doctors had announced that he was afraid: "She said that She needed a liver transplant, which had to be done quickly and that she had days left, not even a week. "

Jim was stunned.

"At that time, I thought about the darkness that prevailed in everything that seemed important to me in life.I did not think about projects going on, I was thinking of people who were important to me for different reasons. " 19659009] Green tea is a plant used to make infusions for thousands of years. What happens to green tea supplements that could harm some people at certain doses? Scientists do not know for sure.

Supplements consist of a concentrated form and are regulated in the United States and Europe as a food, not drugs. This means that no specific security testing has been required. That's why the scientific heritage of how green tea supplements could affect our health is incomplete.

"If you take small amounts of green tea, you are in a safe situation," says Professor Herbert Bonkovsky, director of liver services at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, North Carolina, which follows injuries related to green tea supplements for almost 20 years. "The biggest risk is for people taking these more concentrated extracts."

Jim sued the American firm Vitacost, which had sold the green tea supplement it had taken. The concern is focused on a potentially toxic ingredient called epigallocatechin-3-gallate or EGCG, the most abundant natural compound with antioxidant properties in green tea, called catechins.

A number of factors can probably make a person susceptible to damage by EGCG, including genetics, and by the way supplements are used. "People usually take these green tea extracts to lose weight and, as a result, often stop eating," says Dr. Bonkovsky.

"Studies have shown that fasting animals absorb a much higher percentage.There are other factors, such as other drugs, other chemicals or the consumption of drugs. Alcohol, which also play an important role as modifying factors. "

Green tea is the most popular drink in Japan

While millions of people take green tea supplements safely, at least 80 cases of liver-related green tea supplements have been reported in Teenagers as Madeline Papineau of Ontario, Canada, 17, among those who have suffered problems after taking green tea pills may be teenagers, by example. acute toxic hepatitis in an 81-year-old woman

A recent study by the European Food Safety Authority on the safety of green tea concluded that catechins from green tea beverages are "generally safe" but when taken as supplements, doses of catechin greater than or equal to 800 mg per day "may cause health problems". [1] 9659009] EFSA was not able to identify a safe dose based on available data and requested further investigation. "I was not expecting anything serious, I had hoped that I would have wasted my money, or that I would have taken it and that it would not work, that I could take it, "he said.

a liver transplant, they also surprisingly informed him that they had found him a suitable liver. "I was delighted.The phone call that there was a liver for me had made me hope that there would be something positive in this situation," he said. he.

A liver transplant saved Jim's life. But four years later, he still has serious health problems, including kidney disease that may require dialysis and transplantation in the future. She meets with liver and kidney specialists twice a year and suffers from chronic abdominal pain.

"My life was very active before, and now I am much more sedentary and suffer from fatigue," she says. It's an "extraordinary blessing", he says, that his managers allow him to work from home. "I may need a break of 20 or 30 minutes in the day, I can tell my manager that I will disconnect and come back for a while."

Jim sued the American firm Vitacost, which had sold the green tea supplement it took. "I hope that they will make the decision to put a very strong warning label on the product, on the website, that people know before they buy," he said. -he declares.

Vitacost declined to comment on the case, but said: "We take the safety of our Vitacost brand supplements very seriously and support the quality of our products."

Four years later, Jim reflects on the changes in his life and that of his family after taking a tea supplement. green "I was not expecting anything serious, maybe I hoped that I would have wasted my money or taken it and it would not have happened. no effect, I could take that risk, "he says. "But the risk of liver damage is too high for someone to take it."