Ephedra, is it safe? | Suite101.com

Ephedrine is the active ingredient in ephedra and it is also marketed under the name ma huang. Ephedrine is a chemical cousin to amphetamines and increases both blood pressure and heart rate. This supplement is promoted to help with weight loss, muscle building and increased athletic performance. Sounds, good and it’s natural why not give it a try? My first experience with ephedra was in 1981, when I started selling Herbalife. Even though I didn’t need to loose weight, I took it because I didn’t want to sell anything that I had not tried. I lost weight and then became so ill that my doctor wanted to hospitalize me. Fearing the tests he wanted me to undergo, I explained how I had been taking this herbal supplement. I was given a reprieve and asked to stop taking it, I began to feel better immediately. To learn more about ephedra visit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services I had believed that since it was on the market and touted as being natural it must be good for me. This brings into questions dietary supplements in general.

Dietary supplements, are they safe? This question certainly can’t be answered in a short article. However, since I am continually bombarded by dietary supplements each time I go to the grocery store and I have to read the labels on the sports drinks I buy my middle school athlete anything. I know that an attempt must be made. We believe that the government is monitoring our where supplements are concerned. Before 1994 this was actually more correct. But on October 25, 1994 President Clinton signed the Dietary Supplements Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA). While this article points the finger at ephedra (this is the supplement I think causes the most harm), it will also explain the DSHEA and talk about what supplements are and how to decide for yourself it they are safe or not. I must warn you however there are no easy answers and you must stay abreast of the latest research.

From 1958 until 1994 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulated dietary supplements the same way they regulate food now. Their job was to ensure that products were safe and that labeling was correct and not misleading. The DSHEA basically says that dietary supplements do not have to pass the rigid “premarket safety evaluations” that other new foods must. This does not mean that your dietary supplement is unsafe, it just means that you can’t count on the government to make sure it is. Right now, if you are a manufacturer who wants to market a new product, you need to notify the FDA at least 75 days before you put the product on the market. You also must be sure that your ingredient “will reasonably be expected to be safe”. Okay, I have nothing against the FDA and I think they do a great job of keeping our food supply safe. However, I don’t believe that they could find out if a product is safe in 75 days. So, what happens when the product gets to market? Well, then you are using a product that could be unsafe. It is truly a “buyer beware” market. For more on the Dietary Supplements acts visit the U.S. Food and Drug Administration web site.