A San Diego woman is just one of dozens of people who suffered from liver failure after taking a popular dietary supplement.
Oxy Elite Pro has now been pulled from store shelves, voluntarily recalled by its maker USPlabs.
On Wednesday, the San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency issued a warning.
This comes after more than 50 people with liver problems like acute hepatitis and liver failure reported taking the supplement.
"We don't really know what component in the product is responsible for the liver failure. There have been 56 cases reported to the CDC. There has been one death and two people have needed a liver transplant,” explained Dr. Eric McDonald, San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency’s Deputy Public Health Officer.
He says two people also needed a liver transplant. The Food and Drug Administration started its scrutiny of Oxy Elite Pro after a group of cases was noticed in the state of Hawaii.
“Young people getting liver failure but not having an infectious disease and no apparent reason. When they looked at what they had done, they realized a significant number of them had used this product,” said McDonald.
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McDonald says, a 45-year old San Diego woman suffered acute liver failure after using Oxy Elite Pro for weight loss. He says investigation is still being done by the FDA and CDC.
A statement sent to our NBC Station in Dallas from USP labs spokesperson Michael Petruzzello said.
"The cluster of liver issues in Hawaii is a complete mystery and nothing like this has ever been associated with OxyELITE Pro in all of the years our products have been in the market. We know of no credible evidence linking OxyELITE Pro to liver issues.”
Petruzzello sent the statement out back in October after the Hawaii cases surfaced.
