Congressman’s Wife Dies After Taking Herbal Remedy for Diabetes, Weight Loss

By Samantha Young

Wednesday, August 24, 2022 (Kaiser News) — SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The spouse of a Northern California congressman died late final 12 months after ingesting a plant that’s typically thought of secure and is used as an natural treatment for a wide range of illnesses, together with diabetes, weight problems, and excessive ldl cholesterol, KHN has discovered.

Lori McClintock, the spouse of U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock, died from dehydration as a result of gastroenteritis — an irritation of the abdomen and intestines — that was attributable to “adverse effects of white mulberry leaf ingestion,” in accordance with a report from the Sacramento County coroner that’s dated March 10 however was not instantly launched to the general public. KHN obtained that report — along with the post-mortem report and an amended demise certificates containing an up to date explanation for demise — in July.

The coroner’s workplace dominated her demise an accident. The unique demise certificates, dated Dec. 20, 2021, listed the reason for demise as “pending.”

Tom McClintock, a Republican who represents a district that spans a number of counties in northern and central California, discovered his 61-year-old spouse unresponsive at their Elk Grove, California, residence on Dec. 15, 2021, in accordance with the coroner’s report. He had simply returned from Washington, D.C., after voting in Congress the night time earlier than.

It’s unclear from the post-mortem report whether or not Lori McClintock took a dietary complement containing white mulberry leaf, ate contemporary or dried leaves, or drank them in a tea, however a “partially intact” white mulberry leaf was present in her abdomen, in accordance with the report.

McClintock’s demise underscores the dangers of the huge, booming market of dietary dietary supplements and natural cures, which have grown right into a $54 billion business within the United States — one which each lawmakers and well being care consultants say wants extra authorities scrutiny.

“Many people assume if that product is sold in the United States of America, somebody has inspected it, and it must be safe. Unfortunately, that’s not always true,” U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) mentioned on the Senate ground this spring when he launched laws to strengthen oversight of dietary dietary supplements.

Daniel Fabricant, CEO and president of the Natural Products Association, which represents the dietary dietary supplements business, questioned whether or not McClintock’s demise was associated to a complement.

“It’s completely speculative. There’s a science to this. It’s not just what a coroner feels,” mentioned Fabricant, who oversaw dietary dietary supplements on the FDA throughout the Obama administration. “People unfortunately pass from dehydration every day, and there’s a lot of different reasons and a lot of different causes.”

Fabricant mentioned it could have been best had the coroner or the household reported her demise to the FDA so the company may have launched an investigation.

Such reviews are voluntary, and it’s not clear whether or not anybody reported her demise to the company. FDA spokesperson Courtney Rhodes mentioned the company doesn’t talk about attainable or ongoing investigations.

The FDA, Fabricant added, has a system in place to research deaths that is perhaps linked to a complement or drug. “It’s casework,” he mentioned. “It’s good, old-fashioned police work that needs to be done.”

Tom McClintock has remained largely silent about his spouse’s demise since he launched a press release on Dec. 19, 2021, saying it and gave a tribute to her at her Jan. 4 funeral. Until now, the reason for demise had not been reported.

Tom McClintock, contacted a number of instances by telephone and electronic mail Wednesday, was not instantly out there for remark.

At his spouse’s funeral, McClintock informed mourners that she was tremendous when he spoke together with her the day earlier than he returned. She had informed a good friend that “she was on a roll” at a brand new job she cherished in a Sacramento actual property workplace, he mentioned, and “she was carefully dieting.”

“She just joined a gym,” he mentioned. “At home, she was counting down the days to Christmas, wrapping all the gifts and making all the plans to make it the best family Christmas ever, and it would have been.”

According to the coroner’s report, nevertheless, the day earlier than her demise, “she had complaints of an upset stomach.”

Sacramento County spokesperson Kim Nava mentioned through electronic mail Wednesday that the regulation prohibits the coroner’s workplace from discussing many particulars of particular circumstances. As a part of any demise investigation, the workplace “attempts to locate and review medical records and speak to family/witnesses to establish events leading up to and surrounding a death,” she mentioned.

If any drugs or dietary supplements are discovered on the scene or if pertinent info is within the particular person’s medical information, these are handed alongside to the pathologist to assist set up explanation for demise, Nava mentioned.

“Any information the office obtains from medical records can’t be disseminated to a third party except by court order,” she mentioned.

The leaves and fruit of the white mulberry tree, which is native to China, have been used for hundreds of years in conventional medication. Academic research over the previous decade have discovered that the extract from its leaves can decrease blood sugar ranges and assist with weight reduction. People take it in capsule or tablet kind, as an extract or powder. They also can brew the leaves as an natural tea.

Lori McClintock’s response appears uncommon. No deaths from the white mulberry plant have been reported to poison management officers up to now 10 years, in accordance with the American Association of Poison Control Centers.

Since 2012, 148 circumstances of white mulberry plant ingestion had been voluntarily reported to poison management officers nationally, most involving unintentional ingestion by kids 12 and beneath, mentioned Kaitlyn Brown, scientific managing director for the affiliation. Only one case required medical follow-up, she mentioned.

While poison management facilities observe exposures to the white mulberry plant, the FDA oversees dietary dietary supplements, reminiscent of merchandise that include white mulberry leaf extract. Since 2004, two circumstances of individuals sickened by mulberry dietary supplements have been reported to the FDA, in accordance with its database that tracks “adverse events.” It depends closely on voluntary reviews from well being care professionals and shoppers. At least a type of circumstances led to hospitalization.

White mulberry leaf can have uncomfortable side effects, together with nausea and diarrhea, in accordance with analysis. Independent lab assessments ordered by the coroner’s workplace confirmed McClintock’s physique had elevated ranges of nitrogen, sodium, and creatinine — all indicators of dehydration, in accordance with three pathologists who reviewed the coroner’s paperwork, which KHN redacted to take away McClintock’s identify.

White mulberry leaves “do tend to cause dehydration, and part of the uses for that can be to help someone lose weight, mostly through fluid loss, which in this case was just kind of excessive,” mentioned Dr. D’Michelle DuPre, a retired forensic pathologist and a former medical expert in South Carolina who reviewed the paperwork.

Dietary dietary supplements, which embrace a broad vary of nutritional vitamins, herbs, and minerals, are regulated by the FDA. However, they’re categorized as meals and don’t bear the rigorous scientific and security testing the federal government requires of pharmaceuticals and over-the-counter medicines.

Lawmakers aren’t proposing to place dietary supplements into the identical class as prescribed drugs, however some say they’re alarmed that neither the FDA nor the business is aware of what number of dietary dietary supplements are on the market — making it nearly inconceivable for the federal government to supervise them and punish unhealthy actors.

The FDA estimates 40,000 to 80,000 complement merchandise are available on the market within the U.S., and business surveys estimate 80% of Americans use them.

Legislation by Durbin and U.S. Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) would require producers to register with the FDA and supply a public record of elements of their merchandise, two provisions which might be backed by the Council for Responsible Nutrition, one other business group that represents complement makers.

But the council is lobbying in opposition to a provision that might require complement makers to supply shoppers with the ingredient quantities — or the mix — of their merchandise, one thing they are saying is akin to giving a recipe to rivals. That’s proprietary info solely authorities regulators ought to have entry to, mentioned Megan Olsen, the group’s senior vice chairman and common counsel.

Olsen defined that complement producers are regulated identical to different meals corporations and are topic to strict labeling necessities and inspections by the FDA. They additionally should inform the company about any adversarial results reported by shoppers or docs.

“Companies are testing products throughout the process, are reviewing how they’re being manufactured and what’s going into them,” Olsen mentioned. “All of that is overseen and dictated by FDA regulation.”

The dietary complement provisions had been rolled into a bigger Senate well being committee invoice that reauthorizes FDA packages, and senators are at the moment in negotiations with the House of Representatives. The Natural Products Association opposes the entire dietary complement provisions.

Because dietary drugs, teas, and different dietary supplements are regulated as meals merchandise, producers can’t promote them as remedies or cures for well being points. But they’ll make claims about how the dietary supplements have an effect on the physique. So somebody who desires to drop some weight or get their diabetes beneath management would possibly attain for a bottle of white mulberry leaf extract as a result of some complement makers promote it as a pure treatment that may decrease blood sugar ranges and promote weight reduction.

Those sorts of claims are interesting to Americans and have been particularly potent throughout the pandemic, as individuals sought to spice up their immune methods and fend off covid-19, mentioned Debbie Petitpain, a registered dietician nutritionist and a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

But dietary dietary supplements may be harmful and don’t have an effect on everybody the identical approach. Mixing dietary supplements and prescription medicines can compound the issue, in accordance with the FDA.

“I think a lot of people are thinking, ‘Oh, it’s a plant.’ Or, ‘Oh, it’s just a vitamin. Certainly, that means that it’s not going to hurt me,’” Petitpain mentioned. “But there’s always a risk for taking anything.”

It’s not clear why Lori McClintock was taking white mulberry leaf. Friends and household who gathered for her funeral described a vibrant, blissful lady who cherished her household and her work and already had wrapped Christmas presents beneath the tree in mid-December. She was planning to purchase a leisure car together with her husband in retirement.

“We grieve the loss because of all the things she was looking forward to doing and all the years yet ahead,” Tom McClintock informed mourners. “And we grieve for something else, because we’ve all lost a genuinely good person in our lives.”

This story was produced by KHN, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially impartial service of the California Health Care Foundation.