The Benefits Of Thermogenesis With Ephedra

Thermogenesis is the process of energy burning the cells in your body go through to function and produce heat. Diet pills containing ephedra can help stimulate thermogensis beyond your resting metabolic rate. While this is a well-proven effect of ephedra as a dietary supplement, the FDA banned the herbal and nonprescription form of the drug in 2004, making it unlikely that you will be able to use ephedra for this purpose.

Weight Loss

The primary reason many people took ephedra diet pills before the FDA ban was that ephedra thermogenesis helps promote weight loss. According to registered dietitian Sheri Barke, ephedra is chemically similar to amphetamines and stimulates your sympathetic nerve system. This produces many effects, including increased heart rate and a slightly raised resting metabolic rate. Because your thermogenesis rate increases, your cells process more free fatty acids as energy.

Exercise Performance

Increasing the energy consumption of your cells may have a slight increase on your exercise performance, but research into this area is lacking. Sports nutritionist Ellen Coleman states that while the ephedrine from the ephedra sinica plant has not been shown to improve exercise performance, one military study combining synthetic ephedrine and caffeine concluded that the extra energy from the drug improved both anaerobic and high-intensity aerobic exercise. Additionally, exercise can also enhance your thermogenesis significantly after your workout for increased calorie burning over a long period of time.

Increased Caffeine Effect

Ephedra has its greatest thermogenic effect in combination with caffeine. While caffeine and ephedra both produce a mild thermogenic effect on their own, combining the two drugs creates a net increase in your metabolism. One double-blind, placebo-controlled study of ephedra and caffeine in the "International Journal of Obesity Related Metabolic Disorders" showed combining ephedra and caffeine produced an average weight loss of 36 lb. over six months for overweight individuals. Using ephedra or caffeine separately produced no benefit greater than the placebo group.

Warning

Though ephedra does have some thermogenic benefits, these do not outweigh the negative side effects you can experience when taking the dietary supplement. Ephedra raises your blood pressure, stresses your circulatory system and can lead to tremors, nervousness and heart failure. The herbal supplement was linked to more than 2,200 reported adverse side effects before the FDA removed it from the market.