Should I take Ephedra?

Ephedra is a naturally occurring alkaloid that is extracted from a Chinese herb called Ephedra sinica and has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for over five thousand years to treat such conditions as asthma. This compound became a pervasive ingredient in many women and men’s health products, not to mention performance-enhancing drugs for athletes (although its performance enhancing abilities have never been proven). Ephedra affects the human body by increasing metabolism and stimulating brain activity. Ephedra also causes your bronchial tubes to expand, increasing airflow in those that suffer from asthma. It has also been used as an expectorant to expel foreign particles from your lungs.

However, by the time 1994 rolled around the FDA had discovered that there was an abnormally high risk of serious side effects in those that took health supplements that used Ephedra as an ingredient. Part of the problem was the regulation of content: most products that had certain percentages listed on their labels failed to live up to those percentages when the supplement was tested in the lab. In fact, in some cases the difference between labeled content and how much Ephedra was actually in the supplement differed as much as ten fold! There are also recorded cases where the use of Ephedra has actually caused death of the user. Seeing the immense number of serious ill effects and fatalities created by Ephedra use, the FDA declared the compound illegal in the U.S. as a component for women and men’s health products. This ruling was appealed at several levels but the FDA and the vast amount of fatal cases upheld their decision and Ephedra remains an illegal health supplement.

There are chemical variations of Ephedra that are still being used in health supplements, but their use should be monitored and carefully controlled as they can also have the same ill-effects. Please consult your physician and nutritionist before using any Ephedra type substance. After all, you want to be healthy and fit, not dead.