Drug alert: Chinese medicine Xiaokeshuping Jiangtangning Jiaonang contains undeclared Western drug ingredients that can cause side effects.

The Department of Health warns consumers to avoid proprietary Chinese medicine Xiaokeshuping Jiangtangning Jiaonang, which has undeclared Western drug ingredients that can cause side effects.

A 79-year-old woman who consumed the product was admitted to United Christian Hospital last October with low blood sugar. She has since recovered.

She obtained the product from the Mainland, and the department has no record of it being imported to Hong Kong for sale.

The product contains phenformin, rosiglitazone and glibenclamide. Phenformin was used previously for the management of diabetes. However, since it was associated with high incidence of lactic acidosis, the drug was banned in Hong Kong in 1985.

Rosiglitazone and glibenclamide are Western drug ingredients used for the management of diabetes which should be used under medical supervision.

Known side effects of rosiglitazone are headache, dizziness and lower limb oedema - excessive accumulation of fluid - and those of glibenclamide are nausea and gastro-intestinal upset. Rosiglitazone should not be used in those with a history of heart failure.

People who have been using the product should seek advice from their doctors as soon as possible. They should dispose of it or submit it to the department's pharmaceutical service during office hours.