GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A Gwinnett County woman saw Channel 2 Action News video of tainted Chinese diet pills and realized two things. She'd bought some of them at a Gwinnett County store. Secondly, she believed she had solved the mystery of her sudden, rapid heart rate.
"I looked and I said, ‘I purchased that,'" said Necole Parham.
In video Channel 2 Action News consumer investigator Jim Strickland shot with federal agents in Chicago, Parham noticed a box of diet pills called "3X Slimming Power." She had been taking the supplement since March.
"It was frightening. I now understand that this was contributing to the problem I was having with my heart," said Parham.
The product is one of 72 products on an FDA warning list. The pills are thought to contain high levels of the prescription drug sibutramine.
Parham went to her doctor one month ago. He diagnosed her with a rapid heart rate.
"She was taking some over-the-counter diet pills, probably more than she should have, which sent her into this fast heart rate," said Chris Crooker, MD.
"It's supposed to be all natural, that's what the young lady told me when I purchased it," said Parham.
Parham got the pills at the Gwinnett International Farmers Market.
Strickland went in with a hidden camera and found them selling 3X and two other types of banned pills.
The clerk, who refused to give her name, said she was unaware that the pills were illegal. The owner has not returned Strickland's messages.
The market took the pills off the shelf. Crooker said the dieters using the pills are at risk.
"It's very dangerous. It could put them into a rapid heart rate like that. The pills could give them a heart attack or a stroke real easy," he said.
WSBTV
