Slimming pills overdose death sparks call for ban

Michael Reynolds lost his daughter Cara. Pictures: SWNS

A FATHER has told how his beloved 24-year-old daughter died after taking over-the-counter slimming tablets.

Michael Reynolds, 55, a security officer, is now calling for the “deadly” pills to be taken off the shelves in the UK.

Cara Reynolds suffered a heart attack after taking a large number of raspberry ketones. Each tablet contains more caffeine than four cans of Red Bull.

After finding his daughter unconscious on her bedroom floor on March 5, 2013, Mr Reynolds called an ambulance.

Despite 44 attempts to resuscitate her, Cara died five hours later from cardiovascular collapse because of the fatal dose of caffeine she had ingested.

The herbal slimming pills have been endorsed by celebs including Kim Kardashian and state they are “natural” supplements to aid weight loss.

Mr Reynolds, from Edinburgh, says retailers like Boots, Holland and Barrett and Amazon should ban over-the-counter sales of these pills, and others alike.

He said: “My entire world has collapsed since I lost my Cara. (These pills) are targeted at vulnerable, young women who already have body image issues. If the ketones had not been so readily available, Cara might still be here today. These killer pills need to be taken off the shelves to stop this happening again.”

Cara, a support nurse, had told her parents that she planned to take them to help her lose weight while working out at the gym.

Mr Reynolds said: “She told us the slimming pills were made from natural ingredients, so we didn’t think they were anything to worry about.”

But a month later her mother saw her have a seizure and ran to her side.

Mr Reynolds said: “I held my only daughter in my arms and before she became unresponsive she kept telling me she had made a mistake and that she didn’t want to die.

“She’d broken up with her fiance of one year and was left devastated by the rocky relationship. In a moment of madness, she’d taken an overdose because she had the ketones to hand. It was the most heartbreaking moment of my life.”

She was rushed to hospital and doctors battled to save her but after five hours, Cara was pronounced dead.

A British Medical Journal case report said the high dosage of caffeine sent Cara’s heart into cardiac arrest and doctors made 44 attempts to resuscitate her with a defibrillator without success.