Ingredients Banned by the FDA, Are They Magic Diet Herbal Medicines in Korea?

Recently, there has been a surge in hashtags and reviews about ‘Korean Diet Medicine’ on the social media platform TikTok. The influence of ‘K’, which started with K-POP, seems to have extended beyond dramas into the medical field. The problem is the lack of objective results regarding whether these products, referred to as “magic brown potions” or “pink pills”, are actually effective and whether there are any medical issues associated with them. TikTok, as the starting point of trends and phenomena, shows no concern for the healthiness of trends or the safety of phenomena. It is merely a battlefield for all sorts of low-quality marketing disguised as trending. In fact, major clinics in Gangnam, South Korea, have not only jumped on this phenomenon but are also key players who initiated it. Therefore, the ‘high-profit output’ of Gangnam clinics could potentially become a ‘high-risk factor’ threatening the future of K-Medicine through unverified side effects of K-Medicine.  

In particular, the true identity of ‘Korean Diet Medicine’ is not pharmaceuticals from medically verified companies, but rather traditional prescriptions known as ‘Hanbang’. Tradition has a long history, but for the most important value of health, tradition must also be a verified one. In this regard, the trending of Korean diet medicine going viral on TikTok should not be treated lightly as just another trend.  

What is even more concerning is the unique selling points of the products going viral on TikTok. Gangnam M Herbal Hospital claims to have developed a peach-flavoured ‘Pink Pill’ and obtained a patent for it. The taste and colour are unrelated to the values of safety and effectiveness that are important in medicine. Simply leveraging the power of ‘K’ that becomes an issue for global audiences and the ‘positive ambiguity’ of traditional Korean medicine, they are replacing the brand value of Korea with a vulgar commercial value through indiscriminate marketing and online prescriptions. Gangnam M Herbal Hospital already has 25 branches and has established an online prescription and overseas delivery system. Of course, there are also cases like Gangnam’s E Clinic, which has made pre-medical examinations mandatory through a Western medical approach, or I Clinic, which combines scientific diagnosis with tradition.  

So what is the reality of the Korean diet medicine that overseas consumers are raving about? The key ingredient of the medicine is Ephedra. The mechanism of action of Ephedra is distinctly different from that of modern drugs like Wegovy.  

Wegovy is a hormone-based drug that acts on the hypothalamus in the brain to induce a feeling of fullness and slow gastric emptying. In contrast, Korean diet herbal medicine primarily contains Ephedra. Ephedra contains alkaloids such as Ephedrine and Pseudoephedrine.  

Ephedrine acts as a sympathomimetic agent, stimulating the sympathetic nervous system as if the body were undergoing intense exercise or facing a crisis, increasing heart rate, boosting basal metabolic rate, and suppressing appetite. In other words, while Wegovy sends signals of fullness to suppress appetite, Korean diet herbal medicines with Ephedra as the main ingredient tend to put the body in a combat state to burn energy.  

Therefore, it is true that research has proven that combining Ephedra with caffeine can lead to weight loss effects, but these benefits come with serious safety issues. Ephedrine can cause cardiovascular side effects such as myocardial infarction, severe hypertension, myocarditis, and fatal arrhythmias. There have also been reports of severe cases such as acute bilateral mydriasis and acute liver damage.  

Due to these risks, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has completely banned the sale of dietary supplements containing Ephedrine alkaloids since 2004. The problem is that in Korea, the use of Ephedra as a ‘medicine’ prescribed by a doctor after diagnosing a patient’s constitution is still legal. This is where Gangnam clinics have found their niche. They are utilizing ingredients banned in the U.S. to promote the efficacy based on the mechanism of the ingredients while ignoring safety, focusing solely on marketing and sales.  

Moreover, under the regulations of the U.S. FDA, products containing Ephedrine can face strict sanctions during the customs process, even if imported personally. International courier companies like UPS explicitly state in their terms that they refuse to transport prohibited items. Nevertheless, the problematic diet medicine from Gangnam M Herbal Hospital is still being shipped overseas, including to the U.S.  

The government’s policy support is also encouraging their illegal activities. The Ministry of Health and Welfare has partially allowed non-face-to-face medical consultations, which were fundamentally prohibited under medical law, in the form of pilot projects and regulatory sandboxes. In particular, as part of the ‘Medical Korea’ policy aimed at attracting foreign patients, they are promoting pre-consultations and post-care for overseas patients. A policy intended to promote healthy Korean medicine has degenerated into a means of filling the pockets of money-hungry merchants.  

Currently, clinics in Gangnam are presenting traditional medicine with a modern sensibility, utilizing Korea’s IT infrastructure and regulatory sandbox to transform local businesses into global models. While it is true that what is most Korean can be global, at least in the field of medicine, tradition must be a verified tradition. If the government is using regulatory relaxation to market ingredients banned by the FDA, thereby harming the health of the K-brand, it is tantamount to the government colluding with merchants who undermine the value of the K-brand through policy considerations.