Ephedra

Ephedrine is the active ingredient in many diet pills and supplements. Many use the name "thermo", "lean" or "fat burner." Brand names include, Lipodrene, Lipodrene Lite, Stimerex, Stimerex ES, Xenadrine, Metabolife, MeTrim, Herbalife, Adiphen, Thermalean, Zymax, Genicil, Patent Lean, Thermoslim, Ultra Lipo Lean, Trim Life, Hydroxy Cut, Herbal Phen-Fen, Shapefast, Thermoburn, Thyro-slim, Trim Spa, Natural Trim, Thermo-Lift and others.

What is ephedrine? Ephedrine (e-fed’rin) a-methylamino-l phenyl-l propanol, is an alkaloid from the leaves of Ephededra equisetina, E. Sinica, and other species (family Gnetaceae). It is also called Ephedra & Ma Huang, the plant source for the Alkaloid ephedrine.

Two thousand years ago Ephedra (under the name Ma huang) has been used in Chinese medicine to treat several disorders. Amongst others asthma and bronchitis were to be treated properly with Ephedra. Ephedra comes from a plant that has a few powerful active compounds, of which ephedrine is the most useful.

Over the last few years ephedra has gained much more attention for its side-effects: an increased metabolism, plus the thermeogenic and fat burning qualities that come along with that. This gives the body stimulation and provides energy. Thanks to these qualities ephedra now has a status of weight-loss supplement, smartdrug and sports supplement. A status that has recently become controversial because of the ban on ephedra products in the United States and the Netherlands.

On April 14, Judge Tena Campbell of the U. S. District Court in Salt Lake City struck down the FDA’s (Food and Drug administration) ban on the sale of the herbal supplement ephedra. According to the judge, the FDA had not met the burden of proof that any specific dosage of the controversial weight-loss drug ephedra was dangerous.

The FDA ban was challenged by a supplement company, Nutraceutical Corp. Nutraceutical Corp argued that the FDA had not proved that its own product, which contained 10 milligrams or less of ephedrine-alkyloids per serving, was dangerous. The judge agreed. It's hard to say whether the FDA will appeal the ruling at this point. That decision should come shortly.

Sidebar: While Ephedra has been banned in the US for the past year, it has remained legal in Canada - at levels of 8 mg/dose. In Canada however, ephedra cannot be combined with other stimulants - like caffeine, or cocoa-based stimulants, or synephrine. Therefore, it usually sold on its own - in 8mg tabs.

For those of you who have been searching for a suitable fat burning alternative, this may be good news. Several of you have already indicated that you've seen ephedra being offered for sale again online. And many of you are thrilled with this new outcome. However, it's hard to say whether this will be any more than a short-lived phenomena. It all depends on whether the ban gets reinstated or not.

On the other hand, if you're new to ephedra, please do not jump on the bandwagon without educating yourself first. Although the media has inflamed the ephedra controversy with biased and often inaccurate reporting, ephedra is a powerful compound, and must be treated like a drug. In the hands of the wrong people, it is indeed dangerous.