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During a brief period in the late 1990s, the ephedra diet pill was the miracle drug of the weight loss industry. Every weight control product on the market, whether name brand or generic, advertised that it contained ephedra as an active ingredient. Interestingly enough, these advertisements worked, and any ephedra product could guarantee the manufacturer great financial results.
Ephedrasil was effective, too. It helped a tremendous number of people lose weight, sometimes in small amounts and others in numbers exceeding 100 pounds. It worked quickly and helped these individuals maintain a lower body weight without gaining it back. It seemed that ephedra was the answer to weight loss prayers! |
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The Ephedra Diet Pill: For Emergency Use OnlyThe United States Food and Drug Administration banned all items containing ephedra from the weight loss market in 2004 due to several lawsuits regarding injury and even death of those who had been using such supplements. It was found that the ephedra product could cause severe damage to the heart and circulatory system, especially in the form of a rare valvular disease in women and a similar condition in men.
What is ephedra, and why does it result in such prominent results yet cause such negative health consequences?
Ephedrine is an alkaloid derived from the leaves of Ephededra, Ephedra, and Ma Huang, the plant sources for this alkaloid substance. It is native to Asia, especially China, India, and some parts of the South Pacific region. It was determined through studies of individuals who took the drug and experienced side effects like heart attack, arrhythmia, and even strokes or seizures, that this natural drug had amphetamine-like components and properties that should not be mass marketed in diet drugs. It acted as a “speed” or stimulant to the nervous system at a rate that was beyond healthy and could easily harm the normally functioning systems in the body.
Much like drug addicts on speed or cocaine, users of an ephedra product could easily overdose and send their bodies into shock, causing hearts to arrest or change the blood flow pattern to the brain, disrupting normal brain function and causing seizures. Strokes could occur, especially in people with high cholesterol or a history of blood clots that could easily be knocked loose and sent straight to the brain.
Further study has shown that the previous ephedra diet pill products had dosages that ran too high for even the healthiest of individuals. Recently, the FDA has approved the use of minimal amounts of ephedrasil in some products, as long as the new labeling applies to certain standards, bearing warnings to any potential buyers.
Because an ephedra product can be so effective, in some severe cases where a person is morbidly obese and under a doctor’s direct supervision, a prescription may call for the use of a dietary drug or supplement containing ephedra to get the patient down to a manageable weight that allows for the beginnings of an exercise routine in conjunction with a less aggressive weight reduction drug or supplement.
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