A Systematic Review of the European Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed: Tendencies in Illegal Food Supplements for Weight Loss.

ABSTRACT: Background: Slimming products represent a dynamically growing group of food supplements worldwide. The efficacy of safely usable natural ingredients is usually below consumers' expectations. Certain manufacturers add unauthorized or prohibited ingredients to weight loss supplements in order to increase their efficacy. Hence, many of these products are adulterated and may pose a risk to the consumers' health. Aims: The aim of our work was to give an overview on natural ingredients used in slimming products, to summarize the frequently used synthetic adulterants and also to assess the trends of adulterated and illegal food supplements in the European Union based on the warnings of the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) in the time period of 1988-2019. Methods:

SUBMITTER: Koncz D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7870490 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature