A woman who took diet pills that may have contained a now banned ingredient died after suffering health problems during and following using them, an inquest heard yesterday.
Wong Fung-yee, 35, who was 1.6 metres tall and weighed 73kg, complained of dizziness and a racing heart after she started in August 1997 to take Trim Right, a diet pill claimed to contain natural ingredients, the Coroner's Court heard.
Wong bought the drug from Hoi Kei Beauty Salon, and took, according to instructions, four to six pills three times a day, said Wong Oi-yi, the dead woman's elder sister.
Two months later, she collapsed. She went for a check-up where she was told she was suffering from hypertension. She stopped taking the pills and was prescribed medicine to lower her blood pressure.
The inquest heard Wong also suffered from mild anaemia but was not prescribed medication for this condition.
Her blood pressure remained high in February last year and in November she was admitted to Grantham Hospital, where she died on December 5 from hypertension, heart, liver and kidney failure.
Trim Right, which cost $580 a bottle, was found in March last year to contain fenfluramine, an appetite suppressant which can lead to dizziness and high blood pressure.