Diet pills heavily promoted on TikTok are sending young Russians to the hospital. Doctors warn: “You will regret it ten times more”
A pill promoted in Russia as a quick weight loss method, called Molecule, has gone viral on TikTok, where young people are being encouraged to use it because “makes you forget about food”. Although sales have exploded, several young Russians who have taken the pills have suffered serious side effects and ended up in hospital, the BBC reports.
A pill promoted in Russia as a quick way to lose weight has gone viral. PHOTO: Tiktok
Social networks were filled with messages such as “Take Molecules and forget there is food” or “Do you want to sit in the back of the class dressed in XXL clothes?”. Refrigerators full of Molecule Plus brand blue boxes appear in TikTok videos.
Maria, a 22-year-old woman, told the BBC that she bought the pills from a well-known online store. After two weeks of taking two pills a day, she started experiencing alarming symptoms.
“I had no desire to eat or drink. I was anxious. I was constantly biting my lips and cheeks”said the young woman. “The pills had a profound effect on my psyche.”
Maria began to suffer from severe anxiety and negative thoughts. Other people who consumed Molecules reported that their pupils dilated, they trembled and they could not sleep. At least three students were hospitalized after taking these pills. They include a teenage girl from Chita, Siberia, who took a large dose before the summer, and a 13-year-old boy from St. Petersburg who began having hallucinations and panic attacks.
Although the packaging promises “natural ingredients” such as dandelion root extract or fennel seed, tests have shown that the pills contain sibutramine, a substance banned in the US, the European Union and China.
Sibutramine was originally used as an antidepressant, then as an appetite suppressant, until studies showed it increased the risk of heart attack and stroke. The substance was banned in the US in 2010 and is illegal in most countries, but in Russia it remains available by prescription only for adults.
Despite the bans, Molecule pills are sold online without a prescription, sometimes in higher than medical doses, at prices of only $8-9 for a 20-day box — much cheaper than Ozempic-type injections, which cost between $50 and $210 on the Russian market.
Endocrinologist Ksenia Solovieva from St. Petersburg warns that taking the drug without medical supervision is extremely dangerous: “Self-administration of this medicine is very dangerous, because we do not know how much active ingredient these “food supplements” might contain.”
After the authorities forced several online stores to remove Molecule from sale, the product reappeared under a different name — Atom — with almost identical packaging. On TikTok, merchants sell the pills hidden in ads that appear to promote mundane products such as crackers, muesli or light bulbs.
The origin of the pills is difficult to establish: some sellers claim they come from factories in Guangzhou and Henan, China, while others say they are made in Germany or Kazakhstan.
Solovieva warns that Molecule is all the more dangerous for young people who are already dealing with eating disorders.
“The consequences will be dire. You will regret it ten times over,” so did influencer Anna Enina, who has millions of followers and admitted to taking illegal diet pills in the past.
