Diet Drugs With Ephedra

Ephedra is a chemical compound extracted from a Chinese plant, ma huang, and has been used as an herbal remedy in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries. Ephedra is a stimulant that causes vasoconstriction, or a narrowing of your blood vessels, which increases both your blood pressure and heart rate. Ephedra has many uses in the diet and weight loss industry, but may have severe and dangerous side effects. Ephedra, in its raw state, is currently banned by the Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, although some of the extracts of ma huang, including the closely related compound ephedrine, can still be purchased legally. Consult your physician before using any drug or supplement containing ephedra.

Uses of Ephedra

Ephedra is widely used by athletes looking to reduce body fat and increase energy during exercise. Ephedra has also been used as a precursor, or source, for the illegal production of methamphetamines. More commonly, ephedra has been used for weight loss, sometimes in combination with caffeine and aspirin, called an ECA stack, to magnify its effects. Ephedra may be effective in mobilizing free fatty acids from fat cells to be used for energy production, effectively promoting weight loss.

Effects of Ephedra

Ephedra not only acts as a stimulant, like caffeine, it also acts as a thermogenic, which means it increases your core body temperature. The thermogenic properties of ephedra increase your metabolism and body heat, which promotes the metabolization of calories. Ephedra has been used clinically in many asthma inhalers because of its ability to stimulate the bronchial tubes in your lungs to dilate, making breathing easier. Small amounts of ephedra are still found in many prescription asthma medications.

Safety of Ephedra

The side effects of ephedra use have been widely reported and include severe skin reactions, hypertension, irritability, nervousness, dizziness, trembling, headache, insomnia, increased perspiration, dehydration, hyperthermia, irregular heartbeat, seizures, heart attack, stroke and death. The "New England Journal of Medicine" published a review of ephedra-related reactions and found a number of cases of sudden cardiac events resulting from ephedra use, particularly in young adults and athletes. Many of the adverse reactions to ephedra use occurred while the user was taking the drug within the recommended guidelines of the manufacturer.

Legality of Ephedra Use

In response to the growing number of reported adverse reactions to diet drugs containing ephedra, the FDA conducted a meta-analysis of the safety of ephedra-based products. The investigation revealed that although ephedra provides some short-term weight loss, the side effects of ephedra outweigh the benefits. As a result, the FDA banned the sale of ephedra-containing nutritional supplements on April 12, 2004, although ephedra can still be found in some prescription bronchodilators.