One month after taking Kobayashi’s dietary supplements, a medical staff member at Kobe Hospital began experiencing unexplained health problems.
A 32-year-old man and his family seemed speechless when they learned that his kidney function was only at the level of an 80-90 year old person after taking a functional food containing red yeast rice from Kobayashi Pharmaceutical.
The man suffered acute kidney failure and was forced to quit work, making him and his relatives worried about the future.
Kobayashi’s functional foods. Photo: Kyodo
As a clinical laboratory technician at Kobe Hospital, he is in charge of tasks such as blood and urine tests as well as organizing discussions between patients and medical staff. But now, he cannot continue those jobs anymore.
Last year, he went for a health check-up and was concerned that his bad cholesterol level was a bit high. Therefore, in January, he decided to buy the product Beni-koji choleste-help advertised as “recommended for people with high levels of bad cholesterol”. From January 19, he took 3 pills every morning.
A month later, he encountered unexplained health problems. He felt sluggish, had trouble sleeping at night because he needed to go to the bathroom often, and couldn’t stand up on his own. During breaks, he has to lie on the bed to let his body rest before continuing to work.
Because he had no medical history, he thought his fatigue was stress caused by a busy life.
During dinner on March 22, he saw on television an announcement from Kobayashi Pharmaceuticals that their dietary supplements were causing health problems, including serious kidney disorders. The serial number on the dietary supplement package he was using matched the serial number that the company “suspected contained an unwanted ingredient”. That morning, he also took 3 pills.
He immediately went to the hospital where he worked. Urine and blood tests showed abnormalities, he was urgently taken to another hospital. The male patient received a diagnosis of acute kidney failure.
The kidneys have the role of filtering toxins out of the blood. This patient’s function was determined to be “moderately to severely impaired” equivalent to people between 80 and 90 years old – a group whose kidney function declines with age.
Mr. Akihiro Kobayashi – President of Kobayashi Pharmaceutical Company (second from left) and other executives – apologized for the incident related to the company’s products. Photo: Jiji
Although health authorities have not yet determined the cause-and-effect relationship between dietary supplements and the above male patient’s condition, there is no other clear cause. He told Mainichi Shimbun: “I started taking dietary supplements because I was worried about my health, but I didn’t know that they were harmful. I couldn’t accept the reality of the situation.”
The man was diagnosed with Fanconi syndrome, a condition that causes impaired kidney function, during a test in April. Although the kidney’s filtering ability has recovered somewhat, it is still “mildly to impaired”. medium”. The doctor explained that he was in a state of chronic kidney disease and the recovery process was at a standstill. No effective treatment has been found and it appears that patients will still need to continue treatment to maintain existing kidney function.
“I can’t help but think about future problems like the risk of having to undergo dialysis or getting another disease in 20 to 30 years,” the man lamented.
Kobayashi delayed disclosing the health hazard by about two months despite receiving a series of reports starting in mid-January. When the male patient’s father contacted Kobayashi’s consulting service, the woman Li replied that the company would compensate the medical expenses and sent the family a form to fill out bank account information to receive the money.
However, because there was no other explanation, the man’s father personally went to the pharmaceutical company’s headquarters and asked to improve the consultation system.
The angry father said: “If only they had disclosed the information sooner, my child’s kidney disease might not have been so serious. Even now, we have no information about the cause or treatment. We don’t know what to do other than wait for their response.”