The Japanese company Kobayashi Pharmaceutical announced on Friday that it had identified 76 additional deaths potentially linked to its anti-cholesterol food supplements containing red yeast rice, at the heart of a resounding health scandal in Japan for several months.
During a previous update on this matter in April, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical reported five deaths potentially associated with its products, which have since been withdrawn from the market. This initial number had since been reduced to four.
But with this new announcement, 80 cases of suspicious deaths are listed in this case.
The causes of the deaths “still need to be verified by doctors” and so it is possible that the final number will drop, a Japanese health ministry official said.
Comorbidity
Many people who had consumed these dietary supplements, suspected of causing kidney problems, were also hospitalized.
“Even if the direct cause of hospitalization or death is not kidney disease”, it has “become clear” that in certain cases, the consumption of the products in question has had “indirectly” harmful repercussions on the condition health of certain people, specifies Kobayashi Pharmaceutical.
In concrete terms, these products have often created situations of comorbidity, by worsening the health of people who already suffered from other illnesses.
Recalled products
The Osaka firm only communicated on the matter after mid-March by announcing the recall of three product lines, even though it had received a first worrying report from a doctor on January 15.
At the end of March, the company said it had identified puberulic acid, a toxic substance naturally produced by mold, in batches of its recalled products. But the pharmaceutical company and Japanese health authorities are still working to understand precisely why and how this massive health scandal occurred.
Japan’s Health Ministry has now ordered Kobayashi Pharmaceutical to provide it with a daily report on its internal investigation. Until now, the company had not reported the precise number of cases examined, “which is extremely regrettable”, reacted the government spokesperson.
Red yeast rice in question
Red yeast rice (called “beni koji” in Japan) has been used for centuries in East Asia in food, alcoholic beverages and traditional Chinese medicine for its digestive and circulation-improving properties.
This yeast contains a natural statin, monacolin K, capable of inhibiting cholesterol synthesis.
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