Israeli Mother Hospitalized with Dangerous Blood Pressure After Taking Illegal Weight Loss Pill Bought on Facebook

A serious health incident last week at a Clalit clinic in Abu Ghosh highlights the dangers of purchasing unregulated weight loss products online. A woman in her 30s, a breastfeeding mother of a baby under one year old, arrived at the clinic with dangerously high blood pressure after losing 10 kilograms in just one week. The woman had taken a pill marketed on Facebook as a "natural dietary supplement," despite repeated warnings from the Israeli Ministry of Health against the product since 2014.

During the urgent consultation, clinic staff discovered the woman’s blood pressure was 160/100, a hazardous level for someone her age. Initially, she claimed to have fasted for a week, but later admitted to using a product called "7 Slim Extra," promoted as a natural appetite suppressant based on vegetables. Medical tests revealed the pill contained sibutramine, a potent drug banned in Israel and linked to hospitalizations and deaths in the United States. The clinic’s director, Dr. Yishai Lev, warned that sibutramine can cause severe side effects including increased blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, headaches, and insomnia, and that the drug’s harmful substances could pass to the infant through breast milk.

The woman explained she chose the online supplement due to financial constraints, unable to afford supervised weight loss injections. Upon identifying the cause of her condition, she immediately stopped using the product and was referred for medically supervised weight loss treatment with dietitian support. The Ministry of Health has repeatedly cautioned against "7 Slim" and similar products since 2014, confirming they are unauthorized and contain sibutramine. Past hospitalizations in Israeli medical centers such as Meir, Hadassah Mount Scopus, Bnei Zion, and Rambam have reported symptoms like those experienced by the Abu Ghosh patient.

Dr. Lev emphasized the risks of seeking cheap weight loss solutions online, stating that sibutramine raises norepinephrine levels in the body, increasing heart rate and blood pressure, which can trigger heart attacks even in young people. He warned that physical exertion or emotional stress could have caused a fatal cardiac event in this case. The Ministry of Health advises consulting a doctor or pharmacist before taking any weight loss supplements.