This news was just y'day, and it is about a Singaporean female actress/compere who needs a liver transplant urgently, probably due to slimming pills allergy. I have also pasted another article abt a banned slimming pdt in Singapore that caused people to have hepatitis.

Low-carbing is still the healthiest of all .....

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TV artiste Andrea needs transplant

MEDIACORP artiste Andrea De Cruz, who is believed to have developed an allergy to a slimming pill, is seriously ill and needs a liver transplant urgently.

The 27-year-old has acute liver failure. She could die if she does not get a transplant within a few days.

De Cruz is warded in the intensive-care unit of the National University Hospital (NUH), where she has undergone a battery of tests, a blood transfusion and dialysis since the weekend.

Her family is hoping for a donor by tomorrow, her sister Wendy, 30, told The Straits Times in an interview at her Meyer Road apartment yesterday.

'We hope she will get a transplant while she is still alert. There isn't much we can do once she becomes comatose,' she said.

De Cruz's best chance for a liver match lies with her family but her 62-year-old mother is too old, while Wendy is eight months' pregnant. Her boyfriend actor Pierre Png was at NUH yesterday, taking tests to determine whether he could be a donor.

De Cruz, who had a malignant lump removed from her breast last October, has been in hospital for three weeks, first at Mount Alvernia and, since Saturday, at NUH.

'We kept her condition a secret from the media because we were hoping that she would turn around,' said a tearful Wendy.

De Cruz first showed signs of liver disease three weeks ago. Wendy noticed she looked jaundiced, with a tinge of yellow in her eyes. Still, she went to work to film the new season of All Change, a television programme she co-hosts in which free makeovers are offered to members of a family and for a room in their home.

She was warded shortly afterwards.

The Straits Times learnt that she had told doctors she had taken a slimming drug. She developed an allergic reaction that gave her hepatitis and caused her liver to fail subsequently. Acute liver failure can result from alcohol consumption, viral infections such as hepatitis, and drugs or toxins that damage the liver.

The chances of survival are slim. As many as seven out of 10 die from associated complications. A transplant is their best chance of survival.

De Cruz is hopeful, said her mother, Madam Shirley Tan, adding that she was putting on a brave face. Said Madam Tan: 'Andrea kept saying, 'I'm going to fight. I'm going to get well and I'll be out of here.'

De Cruz has also promised mother-to-be Wendy that she will be well enough to see the arrival of her nephew or niece.

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13 down with hepatitis, thyroid problem after taking Slim 10

A TOTAL of 13 people, who had taken a slimming drug called Slim 10, are suffering badly from it, with a few down with hepatitis.

Others have developed hyperthyroidism, a swelling of the thyroid gland that can lead to increased blood pressure or heart palpitations.

The made-in-China slimming pill was ordered to be taken off the shelves last month, after the Health Sciences Authority (HSA) found that it had fenfluramine, a controlled substance under the Poisons Act.

This substance causes heart-valve disorders when taken with drugs containing other slimming agents called phentermine or dexfenfluramine. The disorder could, at worst, cause the heart to fail.

The concern now is whether Slim 10 can also lead to hepatitis or liver illnesses. At this point, there is no conclusive evidence that Slim 10 is the cause of liver toxicity, said a spokesman for HSA.

'There may be other confounding factors, such as a person's biological make-up, which could have contributed to the adverse reaction,' she said.

Given that there are instances of hepatitis among the 13 reported cases, the HSA will conduct further investigations, she added.

Slim 10, made by Yue Zhi Tang Health Manufacturing in Guangdong, was launched in Singapore last December amid a publicity blitz that boasted how pudgy MediaCorp actress Chen Liping shed kilos after taking the product.

Yesterday, the HSA said in a statement to The Straits Times that at pre-marketing stage, Slim 10 had fulfilled the authority's requirements by providing a full labelling of its ingredients.

But later, during a routine laboratory test of products being retailed in the market, HSA found Slim 10 had two controlled substances - nicotinamide and fenfluramine. They were not declared on the product's label.

Its importer, Health Biz, was ordered to withdraw the product from the market. No action has been taken against the importer yet as the HSA is still investigating.

But anyone found guilty of an offence under the Poisons Act can be fined up to $10,000 or jailed up to two years, or both.

The 13 reported cases surfaced after the HSA alerted all general practitioners and hospital doctors to report cases of adverse reaction to Slim 10.