Can Herbalife products cause liver damage?
No, Herbalife products do not cause liver damage. Each day, millions of consumers safely use Herbalife products. No known hepatotoxins (also known as toxic chemical substances damaging to the liver) have ever been found in our products, nor, has there ever been any conclusive evidence of connections between any of our products, ingredients, and liver disease.
In fact, there is no evidence to support any claims that consuming Herbalife products may be associated with liver injury or hepatitis among previously healthy individuals.
All of our ingredients are derived from natural sources. Our Seed to Feed programme sees that all Herbalife ingredients go through an arduous screening process, underpinned by scientific research. All of the ingredients sourced for our products work in conjunction with a balanced diet and healthy active lifestyle and support the normal functioning of the body. Our Innovation and Manufacturing facilities have earned an ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Standard certification from the NSF-ISR.
Is there any truth to medical claims concerning Herbalife products and health complications?
Since 2005, 27 governments around the world have investigated alleged claims that Herbalife products might have caused liver injuries. The decision following this investigation was that no regulatory action involving Herbalife products was warranted as there is no evidence of connection between our products and reported cases of liver damage.
Our team of experts work closely with government officials and clinicians, providing full transparency and access to product dossiers with product formulas and ingredients as well as proactively sharing results of independent testing regarding product purity and integrity.
Furthermore, rebuttals from our scientific experts, as well as respected independent experts, have been submitted and many have been published in respected, peer-reviewed journals on numerous occasions.
Appelhans K, Frankos V, Shao A. Misconceptions regarding the association between Herbalife products and liver-related case reports in Spain. Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety, 2012;21:333–334. DOI:10.1002/pds. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pds.3203/abstract
Appelhans, Kristy; Smith, C; Bejar, E; Henig, YS (2011). "Revisiting acute liver injury associated with herbalife products". World Journal of Hepatology 3 (10): 275–7. doi:10.4254/wjh.v3.i10.275. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3208182/
Appelhans K, Goldstein L. Revisiting liver injury associated with dietary supplements. Liver Int 2011. DOI:10.1111/j.1478-3231.2011.02547.x. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1478-3231.2011.02547.x/abstract
Appelhans K, Frankos V. Herbal medicine hepatotoxicity revisited. J Hepatol 2011.DOI:10.1016/j.jhep.2011.06.01910. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21782760
Bejar E, Smith CR, Appelhans K, Henig YS. Correcting a misrepresentation of hypervitaminosis A attributed to Herbalife product consumption. Exp Mol Pathol 2011; 90(3):320–321. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21315714
Ignarro L, Heber D, Henig YS. Herbalife nutritional products and liver injury revisited. J Hepatol 2008. DOI:10.1016/j.jhep.2008.05.005. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18550201
K. Appelhans, R. Najeeullah & V. Frankos. Letter: retrospective reviews of liver-related case reports allegedly associated with Herbalife present insufficient and inaccurate data. Aliment Pharmacol Ther 2013; 37:73-74. doi:10.1111/apt.12217. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/apt.12217/full
K Appelhans, R Najeeullah, & V Frankos. Letter: A correction of misinformation regarding Herbalife. World J Hepatol 2013 October 27; 5(10): 601-602. doi:10.4254/wjh.v5.i10.601. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3812465/
K Appelhans, R Najeeullah, V Frankos & A Shao. Outdated Perspectives Potentially Biased Conclusory Statements Regarding Herbalife Products. Journal of Applied Pharmaceutical Science Vol. 4 (02), pp. 133-134, February, 2014. DOI: 10.7324/JAPS.2014.40222. http://www.japsonline.com/admin/php/uploads/1199_pdf.pdf
K Appelhans, R Najeeullah, & V Frankos. Considerations regarding the alleged association between Herbalife products and cases of hepatotoxicity. Internal and Emergency Medicine. January 2014. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11739-014-1048-9?sa_campaign=email/event/articleAuthor/onlineFirst
R Teschke, C Frenzel, J Schulze, A Schwarzenboeck, & A Eickhoff. Herbalife hepatotoxicity: Evaluation of cases with positive reexposure tests. World J Hepatol 2013 July 27; 5(7): 353-363. doi:10.4254/wjh.v5.i7.353. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3724963/pdf/WJH-5-353.pdf
R Teschke, J Schulze, A Schwarzenboeck, A Eickhoff & C Frenzel. Herbal hepatotoxicity: suspected cases assessed for alternative causes. Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2013 Mar 18 [Epub ahead of print]. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23510966
FAD Zambrone, CL Corrêa*, LM Sampaio do Amaralrazilian Brazilian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences (2015) A critical analysis of the hepatotoxicity cases described in the literature related to Herbalife® products http://www.scielo.br/pdf/bjps/v51n4/1984-8250-bjps-51-04-00785.pdf