Red yeast rice supplement consumption and health hazards in Japan–what role is desired for community pharmacists?

IF 3.4 3区医学 Q1 HEALTH POLICY & SERVICES

Health Policy and Technology Pub Date : 2025-05-09 DOI:10.1016/j.hlpt.2025.101029

Yosuke Nomura , Yoshitaka Nishikawa , Shota Suzuki , Chiho Kaneko , Hiroshi Okada

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Sales of health foods are soaring globally as health awareness increases. In Japan, health foods fall into four categories, including those with functional claims backed by scientific evidence. However, in March 2024, concerns about dietary supplements, notably the "Beni-koji (Red Yeast Rice) choleste help^Ⓡ" produced by KOBAYASHI Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., sparked a loss of consumer confidence, linked to serious health issues, including five deaths. To prevent future incidents, enhanced health communication on supplement regulation, efficacy, and safety is crucial. Both the Japanese government and citizens need to reassess regulations, stressing the importance of adequate oversight in product development and evidence-based information maintenance. Moreover, healthcare professionals, particularly pharmacists, play pivotal roles in safeguarding the public against dietary supplement harms by offering empathetic support based on reliable information.

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日本红曲米补充剂的消费与健康危害——社区药剂师应该扮演什么角色？

随着健康意识的增强，全球健康食品的销量正在飙升。在日本，保健食品分为四类，其中包括那些声称具有科学依据的功能食品。然而，在2024年3月，对膳食补充剂的担忧，特别是小林制药有限公司生产的“红曲米（红曲米）胆固醇帮助Ⓡ”，引发了消费者信心的丧失，与严重的健康问题有关，其中包括5人死亡。为了防止未来的事故发生，加强对补充剂监管、功效和安全性的健康沟通至关重要。日本政府和民众都需要重新评估法规，强调在产品开发和循证信息维护方面进行充分监督的重要性。此外，医疗保健专业人员，特别是药剂师，通过提供基于可靠信息的同情支持，在保护公众免受膳食补充剂危害方面发挥着关键作用。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Health Policy and Technology Medicine-Health Policy

CiteScore

9.20

自引率

3.30%

发文量

审稿时长

88 days

期刊介绍： Health Policy and Technology (HPT), is the official journal of the Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine (FPM), a cross-disciplinary journal, which focuses on past, present and future health policy and the role of technology in clinical and non-clinical national and international health environments. HPT provides a further excellent way for the FPM to continue to make important national and international contributions to development of policy and practice within medicine and related disciplines. The aim of HPT is to publish relevant, timely and accessible articles and commentaries to support policy-makers, health professionals, health technology providers, patient groups and academia interested in health policy and technology. Topics covered by HPT will include: - Health technology, including drug discovery, diagnostics, medicines, devices, therapeutic delivery and eHealth systems - Cross-national comparisons on health policy using evidence-based approaches - National studies on health policy to determine the outcomes of technology-driven initiatives - Cross-border eHealth including health tourism - The digital divide in mobility, access and affordability of healthcare - Health technology assessment (HTA) methods and tools for evaluating the effectiveness of clinical and non-clinical health technologies - Health and eHealth indicators and benchmarks (measure/metrics) for understanding the adoption and diffusion of health technologies - Health and eHealth models and frameworks to support policy-makers and other stakeholders in decision-making - Stakeholder engagement with health technologies (clinical and patient/citizen buy-in) - Regulation and health economics