The Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers that certain products marketed for arthritis and joint pain contain undisclosed prescription drugs, including corticosteroids strong enough to cause serious side effects when taken without medical supervision. The agency’s most recent notification, posted August 25, 2026, adds a pain-relief product called Qu Feng Huo Luo Dan to a growing list of supplements found to contain hidden pharmaceutical ingredients rather than the natural remedies advertised on their labels.
A Product Called Qu Feng Huo Luo Dan
According to the FDA’s August 25, 2026 notification, laboratory testing confirmed that Qu Feng Huo Luo Dan, sold online through sites including newgreenusa.com and marketed for pain relief, contains dexamethasone that is not listed anywhere on the product label. Dexamethasone is a corticosteroid used medically to reduce inflammation, but the agency warns that taking it unknowingly, without a doctor monitoring dosage, can weaken the immune system’s ability to fight infection and can cause high blood sugar, muscle damage and psychiatric symptoms. Consumers who suddenly stop taking a steroid they did not know they were consuming also risk withdrawal complications, which is why the FDA is telling anyone using the product to consult a health care professional before discontinuing it rather than simply throwing it away.
Curcuflex Found to Contain Two Undeclared Drugs
The August notification followed an earlier 2026 warning about a joint-pain product called Curcuflex, sold on platforms including eBay, which FDA testing found to contain both dexamethasone and the anti-inflammatory drug diclofenac, neither disclosed on the label. Diclofenac belongs to a class of drugs called NSAIDs that carry their own risks, including an increased chance of heart attack, stroke and gastrointestinal bleeding, risks that compound when a consumer is also taking other pain relievers without realizing a supplement already contains a full-strength NSAID. The FDA advised anyone taking Curcuflex to talk to a doctor about safely discontinuing it rather than stopping abruptly, given the same corticosteroid withdrawal risk tied to the hidden dexamethasone.
Part of a Running List Going Back More Than a Decade
Both notifications sit inside a standing FDA project called Pain and Arthritis Products Containing Hidden Ingredients, a running public list that the agency has updated periodically since at least 2013 and most recently updated on September 14, 2026. Earlier entries on the list include Kuka Flex Forte, Reumo Flex and Artri King, three joint-pain capsules recalled in 2023 after testing found undeclared diclofenac, and a fourth product, AK Forte, found to contain diclofenac, dexamethasone and the muscle relaxant methocarbamol together in a single capsule. A related product, Kuka Flex CBD, was added to the list in April 2026 after testing again found undeclared diclofenac, suggesting that companies selling these tainted products sometimes relaunch under new names after a recall rather than reformulating. The FDA notes that the notification list documents only the products its laboratories have specifically tested, spanning consumer complaints, routine surveillance sampling and referrals from other regulators, and that dozens of additional pain and arthritis products have been added to the list since 2013, most of them marketed online rather than through mainstream retail pharmacies.
Why These Products Target Arthritis Sufferers Specifically
Investigators say the pattern recurs because arthritis and chronic joint pain drive people toward supplements when prescription options feel expensive, slow-acting or come with side effects the patient wants to avoid, making an unregulated product that delivers fast, noticeable relief especially appealing. The FDA notes that hidden corticosteroids and NSAIDs work precisely because they are real, effective drugs, which is why users often report the products deliver results, while the agency stresses that its testing captures only a fraction of what circulates online and in some retail stores. Many of the flagged products are marketed as imported herbal remedies, a framing that can lead consumers to assume the products are gentler or more natural than a prescription-strength drug, when in some cases the opposite is true.
How the FDA Wants Consumers and Doctors to Respond
The agency directs consumers who experience side effects after using any pain or arthritis product to report the reaction through its MedWatch Safety Information and Adverse Event Reporting Program so investigators can identify additional tainted products before more people are exposed. Because corticosteroid withdrawal can itself be dangerous, the FDA specifically advises against simply stopping a flagged product cold; instead, it recommends bringing the product itself, or at minimum its label and country of purchase, to a medical appointment so a clinician can plan a safe taper and check for the high blood sugar, adrenal suppression or infection risk that unsupervised steroid use can leave behind. The agency also recommends that consumers check any joint-pain product against its online health fraud product database before buying, particularly items marketed through third-party marketplace listings or social media ads promising fast, guaranteed relief, since those channels account for a disproportionate share of the tainted products the FDA has identified to date.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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