Lida Daidaihua slimming capsules: hidden sibutramine and a safety alert

Herbal on the label, a banned drug inside

“Daidaihua” is the Chinese name for bitter orange blossom, and the packaging talks about plant extracts. Online sellers call it natural and safe. When the AEMPS's official control laboratory tested the capsules, it found sibutramine in a dose high enough to have a pharmacological effect. Under Spanish law that makes the product an unauthorised medicine, not a food supplement.

There is no “genuine” Lida that is safe. The capsules that were tested are the ones sold under this name, and there is no way of knowing how much sibutramine any particular batch contains.

Official warnings and when they were issued

• 21 January 2010 – Following advice from the European Medicines Agency, medicines containing sibutramine (sold in Spain as Reductil) are suspended; from 1 February 2010 doctors may no longer prescribe them. AEMPS notice (Spanish) and EMA review.
• 17 September 2013 – After a report from the Guardia Civil's environmental and health unit (SEPRONA), the AEMPS bans and recalls four slimming products with hidden sibutramine, Lida Dai Dai Hua Jiao Nang among them: notice ICM (MI) 8/2013.
• 20 November 2020 – The product turns up again on several websites and a serious adverse reaction ends in death. The AEMPS advises people neither to buy nor to take it: notice ICM (MI) 5/2020.
• Elsewhere – The US FDA lists “Lida DaiDaihua” among tainted weight-loss products, and the AEMPS notes that Australia's TGA has warned about it too. In the UK, the MHRA has warned more generally about “herbal” diet pills found to contain sibutramine.

What sibutramine does to the body

Sibutramine curbs appetite and makes you feel full sooner. It is chemically related to amphetamine. It was once a prescription medicine for obesity, until the SCOUT trial, which followed around 10,000 patients, showed more heart attacks and strokes in people with heart or circulation problems who took it, while long-term weight loss turned out smaller than expected.

• It raises heart rate and blood pressure; irregular heart rhythms, coronary heart disease and strokes have been reported.
• Dry mouth, headache, poor sleep and constipation are common.
• It interacts with many medicines, including some antidepressants.

The AEMPS pointed out in 2010 that many overweight people have heart risks that have not yet been picked up, so feeling fine is no guarantee. And with an illegal product nobody checks the dose: the FDA found slimming pills of this kind whose instructions added up to more than three times the daily dose of the old prescription medicine.

Symptoms that need help straight away

If nothing serious is happening but you are worried, for instance because you took more capsules than stated or a child has swallowed some, ring the Servicio de Información Toxicológica on 91 562 04 20. It answers 24 hours a day; keep the pack in front of you so you can read out what it says.

If you have Lida Daidaihua at home

1. Stop taking it.
2. Do not put it in the bin or flush it away. Take it to any pharmacy and drop it in the SIGRE point, the medicine-return bin by the counter.
3. Tell your GP (your médico de cabecera or médico de familia at the local centro de salud; with private insurance, your usual doctor). Say how long you took it, how many capsules a day and what else you take. They will decide whether you need a blood pressure check or an ECG.
4. Report any side effects at notificaRAM.es, Spain's official form for suspected adverse reactions. Members of the public can use it; the form is in Spanish.

How to spot other illegal slimming pills

• They are sold as “100% natural” yet promise big losses in a few weeks with no change in diet.
• The label is only in Chinese or another foreign language, with no Spanish leaflet and no EU company named.
• They are sold through social media, messaging apps or websites that do not say who runs them.
• They come back under near-identical names, or as the “original formula”, after a recall.

Before taking anything for weight loss, look it up in CIMA, the AEMPS database of approved medicines. In Spain, prescription medicines may not be sold online; pharmacies allowed to sell non-prescription medicines online are listed on Distafarma.

What is approved in Spain for weight loss

Start with your GP or the practice nurse at your centro de salud. They can help with diet and exercise and rule out things that make weight loss harder, such as an underactive thyroid or a medicine that causes weight gain.

Orlistat stops part of the fat in food from being absorbed. The 120 mg strength is prescription-only and is used alongside a reduced-calorie diet by people with a BMI of 30 or more, or 28 or more with other risk factors; it should be stopped if you have not lost at least 5% of your weight after 12 weeks. The 60 mg strength is sold without a prescription in pharmacies to adults with a BMI of 28 or more. The effect is modest, and fatty meals cause bowel upsets. Read more on our orlistat 120 mg page.

Semaglutide, liraglutide and tirzepatide (the GLP-1 group) are approved for weight management on prescription only, with medical follow-up. In September 2025 the EMA and national medicines agencies across the EU warned of a sharp rise in fake versions sold online. For severe obesity, a specialist may also discuss surgery.

Questions people ask

Sources: AEMPS notices ICM (MI) 8/2013 (17.09.2013) and ICM (MI) 5/2020 (20.11.2020); AEMPS notice MUH 01/2010 on Reductil (sibutramine); EMA sibutramine review; FDA list of tainted weight-loss products; MHRA press release of 31.12.2015; Spanish summaries of product characteristics for Xenical 120 mg and alli 60 mg (CIMA); EMA/HMA statement on illegal GLP-1 medicines (September 2025). This page is for information and does not replace advice from a doctor. This product is not on sale in our shop.