Morris County residents who have been trying to live a healthier lifestyle as part of their New Year's resolution this year may want to consider doing some research before purchasing and consuming any nutritional supplements in order to make sure that the products they are consuming are in fact healthy and safe.

According to a recent wrongful death lawsuit that was filed on behalf of a New Jersey woman, the manufacturer of a popular herbal supplement drink may have produced and distributed contaminated and defective products. The family of the deceased woman claims that the 88-year-old drank the contaminated herbal supplement drink for months, which later caused her to die from kidney failure and heart damage.

The family's claim may be well-supported based on other complaints that have been filed against the manufacturer of the herbal supplement. According to a lawsuit that was filed in April 2011, a consumer became ill and suffered physical pain from using the product. Another six customers reported having to be hospitalized after suffering kidney damage from drinking the herbal supplement.

Prior to drinking the herbal supplement, the family of the New Jersey woman claims that her health was in good condition. The lawsuit states that the woman began consuming Gary Null's Ultimate Power Meal in November 2009 through January 2010. During that time, she allegedly had 60 servings of the powdered Vitamin D substance, and her servings of the beverage never exceeded the recommended daily dose of 1,000 units.

But instead of maintaining her good health, the New Jersey woman began to experience painful and life-threatening injuries to her body. Her kidneys were failing and her she began to suffer heart problems.

After the woman's death, the family discovered that she may have had a contaminated supply of the supplement. The lawsuit claims that the elderly woman died of Vitamin D poisoning after discovering that the supplement had actually contained one million units of Vitamin D instead of the recommended daily dose of 1,000.

Source: Daily Mail Online, "Elderly New Jersey woman suffered 'extremely painful, severe' injuries before dying after drinking toxic nutritional health supplement," Hannah Rand, Jan. 19, 2012