[ad_1]
This should have been one of the happiest days of his life. But Jim McCants looks up at the graduation of his youngest son in high school, with mixed feelings.
When he sat next to his wife Cathleen in the university auditorium, near Dallas, Texas, he turned to watch him.
"She said," Are you feeling good? "Remember Jim. "I said," Yes, I feel good, why? "" Your face is tá yellow, your eyes are yellow, you are awful. " When I looked 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 diet and regular exercise.
"My father had a heart attack at age 59 and he did not survive," Jim explains. "We lost a lot of things and I was determined to do everything in my power to take care of myself as much as possible so I did not miss anything."
But shortly after graduation from his son, Jim entered the hospital because of suspicion of liver injury.
In trying to identify the cause of Jim's liver injury, the doctors who treated him threw away alcohol.
"In the last thirty years, I have drunk perhaps a pack of six beers a year, and no wine, which is why alcohol has not been present in most of my life. life, "Jim said.
"Then my hepatologist asked a series of questions about over-the-counter supplements," says Jim.
As part of his life, taking care of his health at an advanced age, Jim had started taking a green tea supplement [1 9659004] because I had heard that he could have cardiac benefits .
These supplements have gained popularity in recent years, often touted relentlessly online for their antioxidant benefits and their supposed ability to help lose weight and prevent cancer.
"I felt good back then," recalls Jim, who lives in Prosper, north of Dallas.
"I walked or ran between 30 and 60 minutes, five or six days a week."
I worked as a finance director, but I was waiting to attend a doctor badistant training course. "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 became ill . 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 "queue", waiting for the results of a series of blood tests to establish the severity of his liver injury.
Then, near three weeks after his wife noticed for the first time that he looked sick, one of his doctors told him announced that he was afraid : "She said that she needed a liver transplant, this had to be done quickly and there were only a few days left, not even a week."
Jim was stunned.
"At that moment, I thought how everything seemed to me black.This really materializes what is important in life.I did not think about projects in progress, I thought about people who were important for me for different reasons. "
What about green tea supplements that could harm some people at certain doses? Scientists do not know for sure.
Green tea has been drinking for thousands of years. Supplements consist of a concentrated form and are regulated in the United States and Europe as a food and not as a medicine.
This means that no specific safety test has been required. Therefore, the scientific body on how green tea supplements might affect our health is incomplete.
"If you take a modest amount of green tea, you are in a safe situation," says the professor. Herbert Bonkovsky, director of liver services at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in North Carolina, has been dealing with green tea injuries for almost 20 years.
" People who take these more concentrated extracts are at higher risk ."
The concern is focused on a potentially toxic ingredient called epigallocatechin-3-gallate or EGCG, the most abundant natural compound possessing exclusive properties Antioxidants in green tea, called catechins.
There are probably a number of factors that can make a person susceptible to damage by EGCG, including genetics and the way supplements are used. [19659002] "In general, people take these green tea extracts to lose weight and, as a result, they often stop eating," says Dr. Bonkovsky.
"Studies have shown that fasting animals absorb a much larger percentage of catechins than fatty animals.There may be other factors, such as other drugs, that may be present. other chemicals or the consumption of alcohol, which also play an important role in the modification. "
While millions of people safely take green tea supplements, at least 80 cases of liver damage related to supplements have been reported. green tea throughout the world ranging from lbaditude and jaundice to cases requiring a liver transplant.
Among those who have had problems after taking green tea pills can be counted in adolescence, like Madeline Papineau. Ontario, Canada, 17 years old, victim of acute toxic hepatitis, with liver and kidney disease and 81-year-old woman.
Recent research of the European Food Safety Authority. On the safety of green tea concluded that catechins from green tea drinks are "generally safe", but when taken as supplements, doses of catechin in or over 800 mg per day "may pose health problems". 19659002] EFSA was not able to identify a safe dose based on the available data and requested further research.
The day after the announcement of the liver transplant, Jim was informed in a surprising way. also that they had found a suitable liver for him. "I was delighted, the phone call that there was a liver was allowing me to hope for something positive in this situation," he says.
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. He meets liver and kidney specialists twice a year and suffers from chronic abdominal pain.
"My life was pretty active before, and now I am a lot more sedentary and tired," he says.
This is a "tremendous blessing", as he says, that his managers allow him to work from home. "You 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 company Vitacost, which sold the green tea supplement that 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 you buy it," did he declare.
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 something serious, I hoped maybe I would have wasted my money, or that I would have taken it and that it was n & rsquo; Would have no effect. " This risk could bear it, "he says.
" But the risk of the affected liver is too high for someone to take it. "
Source link
