Weight loss supplements can kill you.

No one is wishing for a miracle weight loss cure more than we are after this vodka-soaked, pastry-laden, stuffing filled holiday season. And yet we’re still tasked the job of reminding us all – we’re tempted too – that these supplements are not evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration before they’re sold.

In the last few years, the FDA has found hundreds of “dietary supplements” for weight loss — even ones with labels claiming to be 100 percent natural and safe — are tainted, meaning they contain drugs or other chemicals that are not listed on the label. People have suffered strokes, acute liver injury, kidney failure, and pulmonary embolisms, while others have died, says the FDA.

These products often claim to be alternatives to FDA-approved drugs or have effects similar to prescription drugs. Don’t buy products claiming to be legal alternatives to anabolic steroids or ones with marketing materials primarily in a foreign language. Does it promise of rapid effects or results? Forget it.

Even traditional supplements are scary. The government has safety concerns over:

• comfrey
• chaparral
• lobelia
• germander
• aristolochia
• ephedra (ma huang)
• L-tryptophan
• germanium
• magnolia-stephania
• stimulant laxative ingredients, like those found in dieter’s teas

Comfrey, for example, contains certain alkaloids that can cause serious liver damage, and aristolochia can cause kidney failure.

Even some vitamins and minerals, when taken in inappropriate amounts, can cause problems. For example, too much vitamin A can reduce bone mineral density, cause birth defects, and lead to liver damage, according to the National Academy of Sciences.