On Thursday, a Japanese pharmaceutical company, whose nutritional supplements are at the center of an expanding health crisis, announced two more deaths that may have been connected to their tablets.
Three supplement brands, including “Beni Koji Choleste Help” and two additional products, were recalled by Kobayashi Pharmaceutical last week due to an ingredient known as red yeast rice, or “beni koji,” which is meant to help decrease cholesterol.
With Thursday’s disclosure, the firm and the health ministry now have four deaths under investigation, and over 100 more people are being treated in hospitals.
“We were told yesterday by a bereaved family that a person who had been using Choleste Help had passed away due to kidney disease,” the drugmaker said in a statement Thursday.
It added that it had been told separately that another person who had used Choleste Help in recent years had died.
“We are in the process of confirming the facts and causal relationships in both of these cases. However, we decided to make this report public from the viewpoint of prompt disclosure.”
According to the Osaka-based business, it has also supplied red yeast rice to two Taiwanese companies and about fifty other Japanese businesses.
In Japan, Kobayashi Pharmaceutical markets a variety of health items via television commercials.
Studies in the medical field suggest red yeast rice as a statin substitute for lowering excessive cholesterol, but they also caution against the possibility of organ harm due to the rice’s chemical composition.
A number of Japanese companies who utilized Kobayashi Pharmaceutical’s beni koji have also independently disclosed recalls.
A variety of health supplements, salad dressing, bread, miso paste, and sparkling sake with a rose hue are among the impacted products.
