Banned Ingredients in Supplements in Malaysia: Hidden Drugs, Steroids and Scheduled Poisons

Banned in supplements, not banned as medicines

Most of these substances are real medicines. Dexamethasone treats serious inflammation, sildenafil treats erectile dysfunction, and glibenclamide and metformin treat diabetes. They are not banned in general. They are listed as poisons under the Poisons Act 1952, which is why Ministry of Health (KKM) statements call them racun berjadual (scheduled poisons), and they are meant to reach you through a doctor or a licensed pharmacist.

What the law forbids is putting them into a health supplement, a traditional product or a cosmetic. KKM spelled this out in an April 2026 media statement on adulterated cosmetics: a cosmetic that contains betamethasone, hydroquinone or tretinoin is a medicine that must be registered with the Drug Control Authority and used only on professional advice. Sibutramine has gone further. The registration of sibutramine medicines was withdrawn in Malaysia because of heart attack and stroke risk, so no sibutramine product is legal here.

A hidden drug is dangerous because nobody is managing it. You do not know the dose, and nobody has checked your heart, kidneys, pregnancy or other medicines. NPRA adds that an undeclared ingredient can lead a doctor to the wrong diagnosis.

Why health products get adulterated

Herbs rarely produce a dramatic change in three days. A steroid does. Swelling and pain ease quickly, the customer is impressed, and the seller gets a repeat order and a testimonial. Fast visible results sell, and in direct selling and social media sales a testimonial travels much further than a lab report.

Trust does the rest, because studies in Malaysia show the public sees traditional medicines as having fewer side effects than modern ones. A peer-reviewed analysis of 6,452 adulterated traditional and herbal products seized by the Pharmacy Enforcement Division between 2008 and 2014 found a steroid in about 48 percent and an erectile dysfunction type drug in about 26 percent. More than half claimed to relieve pain and fever. All were unregistered.

The main groups and the harm each one causes

• Slimming products: sibutramine, an appetite suppressant that raises blood pressure and heart rate and was withdrawn over heart attack and stroke risk. The US FDA has also found phenolphthalein, a former laxative ingredient it removed from over-the-counter use in 1999 over a potential cancer risk.
• Pain and joint jamu: steroids such as dexamethasone and prednisolone, sometimes with painkillers (NSAIDs) such as phenylbutazone. KKM lists the effects of long unsupervised steroid use as muscle weakness, brittle bones, raised blood sugar, high blood pressure, cataracts, a higher risk of infection and Cushing's syndrome. Hidden NSAIDs add a risk of stomach bleeding, heart attack and stroke.
• Men's vitality products: sildenafil, tadalafil and their analogues, found in pills, candy and premix coffee. KKM warns of a sudden, dangerous drop in blood pressure, loss of vision or hearing, stroke and heart attack. With nitrate heart medicines the combination can be fatal.
• Whitening cosmetics: mercury, hydroquinone, tretinoin and the steroid betamethasone 17-valerate. Mercury is absorbed through the skin and can damage the kidneys and nervous system and disturb brain development in young and unborn children. Hydroquinone can reduce the skin's protection from UV rays, which may raise skin cancer risk. Tretinoin causes redness, peeling and sun sensitivity. Betamethasone thins facial skin.
• Diabetes herbal products: glibenclamide, which can push blood sugar dangerously low and end in seizures, coma or death, and metformin, which can cause a rare but serious build-up of lactic acid in the blood. Someone already on diabetes medicine can end up taking a larger combined dose without knowing.

Heavy metals: the contamination problem

Heavy metals are a separate problem from hidden drugs. NPRA tests registered traditional medicines for mercury, arsenic, lead and cadmium. Unregistered products skip that test, and NPRA notes they are made with no control over contamination by heavy metals or bacteria. It has described a 13-year-old boy admitted to intensive care with heart, liver and kidney failure three days after he started an unlabelled traditional product for a sprained ankle. Lab tests found a high level of arsenic in it. The WHO says there is no known safe level of lead exposure and names some traditional medicines and cosmetics as sources.

Warning signs on the product and in the sales pitch

No single sign proves adulteration, and a product with none of them can still be tainted. Only a laboratory can confirm it.

• No MAL registration number or hologram on something you swallow.
• Dramatic results within days: fast weight loss, pain gone overnight, skin several shades lighter in a week.
• One product that claims to cure many unrelated diseases. KKM specifically warns against traditional medicines sold this way.
• The line '100% natural, no side effects'. The US FDA lists 'safe because it is natural' as a classic health fraud claim, along with 'secret ingredient' and money-back guarantees.
• Testimonials and before-and-after photos in place of a registration number, from a seller who exists only on WhatsApp, social media or live streams.
• A seller who explains new symptoms away as detox, or suggests you cut back your prescribed medicine.
• Your own body: a puffy round face and quick weight gain on a pain jamu, or a racing heart, dry mouth and sleeplessness on a slimming product.

How KKM and NPRA act on adulterated health products

NPRA tests samples from post-market surveillance and from side effect reports. When a registered product fails, the Drug Control Authority cancels its registration. When a cosmetic fails, the Director of Pharmaceutical Services cancels its notification. KKM then issues a media statement naming the product and the substance, and orders the stock off the market.

Three official lists are worth bookmarking: NPRA's cancelled cosmetic notifications, which run from 2008 to 2026 and are dominated by mercury, hydroquinone and tretinoin; NPRA's cancelled registrations of traditional and complementary products; and the Pharmacy Enforcement Division's banned product list of seized products that were tainted with poisons or unregistered.

Selling these products is an offence under the Sale of Drugs Act 1952 and the Control of Drugs and Cosmetics Regulations 1984. For an individual, KKM statements put a first offence at a fine of up to RM25,000, up to three years in prison, or both. The warning is addressed to sellers and distributors, which covers agents and stockists who keep selling a cancelled product.

A cosmetic notification is a declaration by the company, not a test by NPRA. NPRA says the company is fully responsible for the safety of a notified cosmetic.

How to check a product before you buy

1. Find the registration number on the pack: MAL, eight digits, then a letter code such as T for traditional products or N for health supplements. Registered products also carry a FarmaTag hologram sticker, which any licensed pharmacy can check with a decoder. The Pharmaceutical Services Programme explains both.
2. Search the name or number in NPRA's product search. Our step-by-step NPRA check covers the MAL number, the hologram and the search. The product name and registration holder should match the pack exactly. Cosmetics are notified rather than registered and the label may not show a number, so search them by name.
3. Look for the product on the three KKM lists above.
4. Check the seller. If the product comes through a direct selling network, look the company up in the CheckMLM directory and read how to check a KPDN licence. A valid licence says nothing about ingredients, but a seller with no licence is a second red flag.

What CheckMLM can and cannot tell you

On CheckMLM, product pages show the NPRA status and registration number where we have them, and our alerts and news pages track product recalls and consumer warnings. For some products we also run an AI-assisted review of the declared ingredient list against a reference list of substances not allowed in that product type. It reads labels. It is not a laboratory test, and a hidden drug is by definition not on the label, so a clean review can never rule out adulteration.

If you have already been using one

See a doctor or pharmacist soon. Take the product and its packaging, and say how long you have used it and how much. KKM's standing advice for a product named in its warnings is to stop using it and get professional advice.

There is one important exception. If you have taken a pain or general health jamu for a long time and suspect a steroid, do not stop suddenly on your own. KKM has warned that stopping abruptly after long use can cause confusion and a dangerous fall in blood pressure. A doctor can assess that risk and tell you how to come off it safely.

Chest pain, fainting, severe breathlessness or sudden confusion needs emergency care, not a message to the seller. This guide is general information, not medical advice. It cannot tell you what is in your product or what is safe for you.

How to report a product or a side effect

• Side effects: report to NPRA with the consumer side effect form (ConSERF). It covers traditional products and health supplements as well as medicines, and you do not need to be certain the product caused the problem.
• Illegal, unregistered or suspicious products and sellers: complain through the KKM public complaints portal (SisPAA), at your nearest state Pharmacy Enforcement Branch, or by calling the Pharmaceutical Services Programme on 03-7841 3200. NPRA's general line is 03-7883 5400.
• Keep the pack, batch number, receipts and screenshots of the advertisement, then file a report on CheckMLM and read what other consumers have reported.