Food was sold as a "magic weapon for lowering uric acid", and netizens revealed that their old father was defrauded of thousands of yuan by online shopping

Produced by | Eye Health is Real

Author | Chen Zhenzhen

1. The overall prevalence of hyperuricemia in China is 13.3%, and the number of patients is about 177 million. Faced with such a huge "uric acid lowering" consumer market, some manufacturers have seen business opportunities and packaged ordinary foods as "highly safe, no side effects" health products and pushed them to patients.

2. Some shopping platforms advertise that pleiotropic glucoside Cordyceps militaris oligosaccharide tablets can "lower uric acid, reduce joint crystallization, and improve gout." Gout patients revealed that pleiotropic glucoside is a food but is sold as a health product, and the efficacy is advertised in violation of regulations.

3. With the current level of medical development, gout cannot be cured, and many industry experts believe that pleiotropic glucosides are unscientific.

"My father told me that he saw a product called pleiotropic glucoside on the Internet, which can lower uric acid and cure gout. He also sent me an advertisement link. However, when I checked, I found that this pleiotropic glucoside is just an ordinary food and very expensive. I told him not to buy it, saying that it can't cure diseases and it is just a scam. He didn't listen and finally bought it secretly." Zhang Xiaowei (pseudonym) revealed to the author.

Product information provided by Zhang Xiaowei

Zhang Xiaowei said that his father bought a bottle of glycosides for more than 300 yuan, 5 bottles for a course of treatment, and a total of two courses of treatment. He thought that since it was food, his father should just buy it and spend money to make himself happy, but considering whether there were any side effects, he finally persuaded his father not to take it anymore.

According to the "2021 China Hyperuricemia and Gout Trends White Paper", the overall prevalence of hyperuricemia in China is 13.3%, with approximately 177 million patients, and the overall incidence of gout is 1.1%, with approximately 14.66 million patients.

Faced with such a huge "uric acid lowering" consumer market, some manufacturers saw business opportunities and packaged the food as a "highly safe, no side effects" health product and pushed it to patients. Like Zhang Xiaowei's father, there are many people who buy pleiotropic glycosides.

During a physical examination, Xu Hui (pseudonym) was found to have high uric acid levels but had no symptoms. The doctor recommended that he first improve his diet. He hoped that health supplements could help lower his uric acid levels.

"I bought a bottle of pleiotropic glucosides online last year, but it didn't work! I went to the hospital to check my uric acid level, and it didn't go down at all. It even rose from 460 to 530." Xu Hui felt that he had paid a waste of money.

Xu Hui's medical examination report

The author searched and found that many merchants on several domestic e-commerce platforms were selling pleiotropic glucosides. The product details page showed that "pleiotropic glucosides can lower the uric acid level in the blood and improve gout symptoms. Long-term use can gradually eliminate gout from the root..."

Introduction of pleiotropic glycosides on e-commerce platforms

The author consulted three businesses selling pleiotropic glycosides, and their customer service representatives had different opinions on the efficacy of the product. Some said it could protect joints, while others said it had no effect on arthritis but could relieve gout.

Answers from different merchants on the efficacy of pleiotropic glycosides

In the comment section, some platforms have only positive reviews, while others have buyers adding negative reviews.

Buyers' evaluation of the effects of pleiotropic glycosides on e-commerce platform A

Buyers' evaluation of the effects of pleiotropic glycosides on e-commerce platform B

What exactly is this “flowers in the fog” multi-effect glycoside? Does it really have the effects it claims?

Selling food as health products and illegally promoting the efficacy of "curing gout"

In an online health product store, pleiotropic glucoside is introduced as a dietary supplement that can lower uric acid, reduce joint crystals, and improve gout if taken regularly.

An introduction to pleiotropic glycosides in a health product online store

Dietary supplements are also called nutritional supplements, health products, etc. According to the official website of the China Nutrition and Health Food Association, all dietary supplements sold in regular pharmacies will have health food batch numbers and wear a "blue hat" (health food logo).

The author searched through the official platform and found that this product with the trademark Duoan Yi and trade name Multi-effect glycoside Cordyceps militaris Chitosan Oligosaccharide Tablets is not a health product approved by the State Administration for Market Regulation.

After verification, the SC11341039100037 on the product packaging is the food production license number for "candy products" of Henan Jiahekang Biological Food Technology Co., Ltd.

Food production license information

A gout patient revealed to the author that he was worried about the side effects, so before buying the pleiotropic glycosides Cordyceps militaris chitosan oligosaccharide tablets, he specifically called the company's staff based on the information on the official website of Henan Jiahekang Biological Food Technology Co., Ltd. The staff clearly stated that the pleiotropic glycosides Cordyceps militaris chitosan oligosaccharide tablets are food and have no side effects, but because the product contains chitosan oligosaccharides, long-term consumption (about half a year) can significantly relieve gout. In addition to chitosan oligosaccharides, the other ingredients in the product have the effect of improving immunity and have no effect on relieving gout.

Is it true what the staff said? The author consulted a doctor of food science and engineering, who said that chitosan oligosaccharide can be used in health foods, and its biological effects are mostly concentrated on regulating intestinal flora, and it has no effect on relieving gout.

Response from a PhD in Food Science and Engineering

In addition, the author found that in recent years, many criminals have commercialized and packaged chitosan oligosaccharide raw materials, and some media have exposed fraudulent cases of health products using chitosan oligosaccharide as raw materials. For example, the Urumqi Evening News reported that fraudsters gathered the elderly in the form of meetings and sold a "universal health product" called chitosan oligosaccharide. A 60-year-old man was hospitalized due to physical discomfort after taking it for 8 consecutive days.

The Interim Measures for the Examination and Administration of Advertisements for Drugs, Medical Devices, Health Foods, and Special Medical Purpose Formulated Foods clearly stipulate that the content of health food advertisements shall be based on the registration certificate or filing certificate approved by the market supervision and management department, and the content of the registered or filed product instructions, and shall not involve disease prevention or treatment functions. According to Article 18 of the Food Labeling Management Regulations, non-health food shall not explicitly or implicitly indicate that it has health effects.

In other words, "Duan Yi Duo Xing Suo Cordyceps Militaris Oligosaccharide Tablets" is just an ordinary food but is sold as a health product, and its efficacy is advertised in violation of regulations.

In addition to e-commerce platforms, other platforms such as Toutiao and Douyin also helped promote pleiotropic glycosides in violation of regulations.

On the TikTok platform, there is a short video introduction saying, "With the successful development of artificial uricase, the new achievement pleiotropic glucoside has also been successfully launched, making it possible to completely cure gout. At present, the supplement pleiotropic glucoside has been launched in the domestic market."

A short video on the Douyin platform introduces pleiotropic glycosides

On Toutiao today, there are many articles promoting the multiple functions of pleiotropic glycosides, including "treating gout, reducing swelling and relieving pain, reducing joint crystals, dissolving tophi, lowering uric acid concentration and relieving joint pain".

Multi-effect glycosides promotion information

Many industry experts believe that pleiotropic glycosides are unscientific

When did pleiotropic glycosides appear? Are there any related studies? The author searched China National Knowledge Infrastructure and PubMed (a database of biomedical literature) and found no relevant literature support for pleiotropic glycosides.

CNKI search results

PubMed search results

The author consulted several doctors in the industry regarding the advertised efficacy of pleiotropic glycosides and their product ingredients.

A reply from a doctor from the Department of Endocrinology, Xiyuan Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences

A chief physician of the rheumatology and immunology department of a tertiary hospital in Beijing told the author that gout is a metabolic disease caused by increased blood uric acid levels due to purine metabolism disorders. In the early stage, there is an asymptomatic hyperuricemia period. After a period of time, some patients will have gouty arthritis (including acute gouty arthritis and chronic gouty arthritis), gouty kidney, urinary stones, etc. The gout that people often talk about mostly refers to acute gouty arthritis.

The chief physician said that she did not know much about the pleiotropic glycosides product and thought that it was not very scientific. She also emphasized that gout is an incurable disease and patients should not force themselves to be cured. However, through lifestyle adjustments and reasonable drug treatment, a stable state can be achieved and a normal standard of living can be maintained.

Science is rigorous and low-key, while advertising and marketing are just the opposite, with huge profits, high profile, and the more people know about it, the better. Before buying and using health products, consumers should learn to scientifically identify and choose, so as to pay less IQ tax.

References:

[1] Gout affects 15 million people, and those who stay up late all night are a potential high-risk group

https://view.inews.qq.com/a/20221018A080HO00

[2] 170 million Chinese people have been infected, with more cases among young people. Be careful if this physical examination indicator increases!

https://www.cn-healthcare.com/articlewm/20220129/content-1310922.html

[3] Healthy pregnant mothers, dietary supplements

http://www.cnhfa.org.cn/news/show.php?itemid=5304

[4] Gout patients under 40 years old account for 1/3 of the total number of patients! Dietary guidelines for gout patients, please remember the three key points

https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1741365289036579726&wfr=spider&for=pc

[5] An elderly man bought a box of “universal health care products” for 898 yuan and took them for 8 consecutive days. He felt unwell and was admitted to the hospital

https://www.tech-food.com/news/detail/n1247474.htm

[6] Family of an octogenarian in Yanzhou who died suspected health supplement use was related

http://jiangsu.china.com.cn/html/2016/sdnews_0905/7171933.html

[7] Announcement on the approval of six new food ingredients including chitosan oligosaccharide (No. 6 of 2014)

http://www.nhc.gov.cn/sps/s7890/201405/367ce408981e4807809e107417b3d361.shtml

[8] “Measures for the Administration of Registration and Filing of Health Food”

https://gkml.samr.gov.cn/nsjg/fgs/202011/W020211116565338040119.pdf

[9] Regulations on Food Labelling

http://www.gov.cn/ziliao/flfg/2007-10/18/content_779137.htm