The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has today announced a voluntary recall of Hydroxycut products by Iovate Health Sciences Inc., of Oakville, Ontario, and distributed by Iovate Health Sciences USA Inc. of Blasdell, N.Y.

Retailers and other distributors are advised to remove the 14 Hydroxycut products from shelves and discontinue sales as soon as possible. Some Hydroxycut products are associated with a number of serious liver injuries. One death due to liver failure has been reported to the FDA.

Hydroxycut products are dietary supplements that are marketed for weight-loss, as fat burners, as energy-enhancers, as low carb diet aids, and for water loss under the Iovate and MuscleTech brand names. The list of products being recalled by Iovate currently includes:

The FDA has issued a release, “FDA Warns Consumers to Stop Using Hydroxycut Products” available on the agency's Recalls, Market Withdrawals and Safety Alerts page. The Natural Products Association urges its members to adhere to the recall.

“One of the fundamental principles of DSHEA [Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994] is providing consumers with more information so that they can make informed decisions to maintain and improve their health, said David Seckman, CEO and executive director for the Natural Products Association.

“This prompt action shows that the current DSHEA works and that the Adverse Event Reporting (AER) law that we helped to pass is working to enable the agencies to detect signals of any threat to the public health. Thus, the industry is more than appropriately regulated and necessary consumer protections are in place.”