The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is investigating a potential link between death and mushroom-infused chocolates or sweets from the Diamond Shruumz brand.
FDA Reports Illnesses and Hospitalizations Due to Diamond Shruumz Products
As of Monday, 48 diseases and 27 hospitalizations have been linked to these products, according to the FDA.
Prophet Premium Blends, based in Santa Ana, California, which develops the Diamond Shruumz items, introduced a nationwide recall of their chocolate bars, cones, and gummies on Thursday, with the declaration made on the FDA's website on Friday.
The FDA, along with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), poison control centers, and local agencies, is inspecting the diseases.
People who fell sick after eating the mushroom-infused sweets recorded intense manifestations such as convulsion, loss of consciousness, confusion, sleepiness, agitation, abnormal heart rates, high or low blood pressure, nausea, and vomiting, according to the FDA.
Prophet Premium Blends has not yet commented on the situation. On their website, Diamond Shruumz urged consumers to refrain from ingesting their products while the investigation into the cause of the adverse effects continues.
Illnesses connected to the products have been recorded in 24 states, and poison control centers nationwide have gotten 82 reports of risk to the candies.
Prophet Premium Blends declared that the recalled products include muscimol, a chemical in some mushrooms, which could cause the recorded manifestations. The company received two complaints on May 27 about consumers becoming ill after eating an entire chocolate bar. A review revealed "higher than normal amounts of muscimol" in the products.
Research circulated in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine signified that muscimol can essentially change mood, perception, cognition, and behavior, and can be deadly in high doses.
The chemical slows the central nervous system, causing effects similar to alcohol or benzodiazepines, such as dizziness, nausea, tiredness, a feeling of weightlessness, visual and auditory hypersensitivity, space distortion, unawareness of time, and hallucinations.
The review noted the increasing availability of products containing muscimol, such as gummies and vapes, and called for a "new regulatory approach" for these products.
Read Also : Michigan Health Department Officials Urge Residents to Avoid Diamond-Shruumz Products as FDA Investigates
Officials Urge Immediate Disposal of Diamond Shruumz Chocolates and Candies
Officials have warned customers to discard any Diamond Shruumz chocolates or candies immediately, as they may appeal to children and teenagers.
Retailers have been instructed to stop selling or distributing the products and to secure them until further instructions on how to return or dispose of them safely are provided.
Diamond Shruumz markets its products as intended for microdosing, although the company's website states they do not contain psychedelic substances and do not appear to contain psilocybin.
Several toxicology experts said that mushrooms listed as ingredients, such as lion's mane or ashwagandha, do not produce effects like relaxation or euphoria, as the company claims.
The FDA has not approved muscimol as a food additive, and it remains largely unregulated. Muscimol is not a federally controlled substance.
Last month, the CDC warned healthcare providers about the increasing availability of products with psychoactive ingredients in the U.S., often sold as gummy candies or chocolate, which may contain undisclosed or potentially harmful ingredients not approved for use in food.
Related Article: FDA Issues Warning After People in Four States Fell Ill from Consuming Microdosing Chocolate Bars
