How Does Xenadrine Work?

Maintaining optimal body weight requires a long-term commitment to managing food portions and making healthful food choices. In the age of "quick fixes," however, consumers readily fall prey to pills, potions and gimmicks claiming to drive down weight with minimal lifestyle modification. Cytodyne Technologies, maker of Xenadrine EFX and Xenadrine Ultra, promises "ultra-fast, substantial weight loss" to desperate dieters. If the Xenadrine products are true to their reputations, how do these products change the internal environment of a body to cause such dramatic weight loss?

Xenadrine's Active Ingredients

Xenadrine's active compounds vary. In the early 1990s, Xenadrine EFX contained ephedrine and synephrine, two herbal agents that have a chemistry similar to amphetamines. The now popular Xenadrine Ultra blends yerba mate, guarana and 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine. These three ingredients collectively deliver 200 milligrams of the stimulant compound caffeine, according to xenadrine.com. All of Xenadrine's active ingredients excite body functions, resulting in short-term weight reduction. Xenadrine's vitamins and other seemingly exotic ingredients, while potentially bolstering product sales, negligibly impact weight.

Xenadrine's Physiological Work

Stimulant agents including caffeine, ephedrine and amphetamine deliver a substantial dose of chemically-induced stress to the body. In response, the brain activates the sympathetic nervous system, a specific portion of the nervous system designed to react to a life-threatening situation. Instrumental to life preservation are the elevation of heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar and fats, oxygen use and a variety of adrenal hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol.

The tremendous, nearly instantaneous change in physiology associated with this "fight or flight" response is referred to as mass discharge of sympathetic nervous system activity, according to the "Textbook of Medical Physiology." Sympathetic mass discharge accelerates systemic (whole body) metabolism and caloric expenditure. Through this function, Xenadrine fulfills its promise of short-term weight loss. As a bonus, sympathetic overdrive diminishes appetite, augmenting caloric deficit and weight loss while using the substance.

Xenadrine's Undesirable Work

Xenadrine impacts multiple body systems though its action on the nervous system. Though often tolerated by desperate dieters, undesirable work of stimulant agents may include poor concentration and sleep quality, seizures, increased irritability or moodiness, and sweating or shaking. Cardiovascular complications may be quite severe including hypertension, heart attack and stroke, particularly with use of ephedrine, according to the New England Journal of Medicine. Adverse events associated with caffeine consumption are generally less common, though the overweight population attracted to stimulant weight loss products often also takes prescription medications to manage pre-existing health conditions, increasing the potential for hazardous drug interactions. Finally, though necessary for life preservation, repeated provocation of sympathetic mass discharge through the use of stimulant agents or other chronic stressors suppresses the immune system, inviting infectious disease and may increase risk of atherosclerosis and other diseases associated with chronic inflammation.

Despite the negative physiological effects of the substance, perhaps Xenadrine's most damaging work is performed on the psychology of the dieter through its ruthless promotion of something unachievable: sustained, healthful weight management with minimal effort to modify lifestyle behaviors.