BfR Annual Report 2015

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59
Assessment of the health risks of
certain “sports foods”
“Fit and slim”: “Sports foods” – a collective term used to
describe a group comprising a wide range of foods – are
designed to appeal to sportspeople or people who lead
a physically active lifestyle. EU food legislation does not
provide a definition for sports food. However, sports food
products are available on the market in widely varying
forms and compositions: From sports drinks and carbo-
hydrate or protein concentrates to various micronutrient
products marketed as food supplements. One commer-
cially important group of sports products are food sup-
plements with substances that are intended to influence
metabolic processes – by increasing “fat burning” and
rapid weight loss, for example. In many cases, slimming
products, particularly those sold via the internet, can
contain substances that present a health risk or that have
not been adequately assessed.
Hydroxycitric acid (HCA), for example, is obtained from
the rind of an Indian spice plant called Garcinia cam-
bogia. It is sold – above all via the internet – as Garcinia
cambogia extract or, with the emphasis on the HCA
content, as a product that promotes weight loss and in-
creased “fat burning”. No binding specifications exist for
the HCA products currently available in Germany or via
the internet. In 2015, the BfR conducted a risk assess-
ment of products containing HCA. Animal studies have
shown toxic effects on the testicles of male rats following
oral intake of certain Garcinia cambogia extracts con-
taining HCA at high doses. Animal studies using other
products, however, have not found such effects at the
doses tested in these latter studies. It is unclear to what
extent the findings from trials with one extract are appli-
cable to other extracts. However, the effects observed
in the animal studies using certain products containing
HCA are to be regarded as severe. Human studies using
lower doses than in the animal studies have not reported
any signs of testicular damage to date. Against the back-
drop of suspected adverse effects based on the animal
studies, however, the aspect of testicular toxicity has not
been adequately investigated in human studies to date.
This means that there are still unanswered questions
concerning the safety of slimming products containing
HCA, depending on the Garcinia cambogia extracts with
HCA that are used and the dose at which they are used.
2,4-Dinitrophenol (DNP) is an industrial chemical that
promotes “fat burning” by disrupting normal energy me-
tabolism: As a result, the macronutrients absorbed from
food are not converted into energy that can be used by
the human body but into heat. In the 1930s, DNP was
mainly used in the USA as a medication that boosted
metabolism and thereby induced weight loss, but it
was taken off the market shortly thereafter due to seri-
ous undesirable side effects. Products containing DNP
are nevertheless illegally marketed as slimming aids
(“fat burners”) for sportspeople, particularly via the in-
ternet. DNP is praised as being highly effective by the
bodybuilding community, but its use can result in severe,
life-threatening toxic effects. In recent years, there have
even been fatalities as a result of the consumption of
DNP. It was for this reason that the BfR published a com-
munication in 2015 outlining the health risks of food sup-
plements containing DNP. Possible symptoms of acute
poisoning with DNP range from nausea, vomiting, sweat-
ing attacks, agitation, dizziness, yellow colouring of the
skin, skin redness, overheating of the body, respiratory
distress, a drop in blood pressure, cardiac arrhythmia, to
coma and death. In the medical literature, the lethal oral
dose is given as 1–3 g of DNP taken as a single dose.
Consumption of smaller quantities of the substance over
a longer period of time can lead to a yellowish opacity
of the lens of the eye (cataract), skin lesions and effects
on the blood as well as the cardiovascular and nervous
system. As the substance accumulates in the body, the
repeated intake of smaller doses over several days may
also lead to lethal levels of poisoning. The BfR therefore
urgently advises against the intake of DNP.
i The BfR has published detailed information on dinitrophenol
(DNP) in the updated Communication No. 046/2015
(in German), which can be found at:
Garcinia cambogia is a medium-sized flowering ever-
green tree with orange-sized, pumpkin-like fruits
found in South Asia. The hydroxycitric acid contained
in extracts obtained from the fruit rind is said to pro-
mote weight loss. No consensus exists on these prop-
erties in the scientific community, however. A valid
assessment by the European Food Safety Authority
(EFSA) is not yet available.
Food Safety