The Controversy Surrounding Nutrition Supplements
The Chinese discovered ephedra in the form of
the Ma Huang plant more than 5,000 years ago and
it is the basis of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
The Chinese have long used ephedra to treat colds
and flus, fever, and many other symptoms. Recent
research has shown that ephedra increases metabolism,
promotes weight loss and fat burning, curbs your
appetite, relaxes the air passages in the lungs
to help treat asthma and cough, and helps promote
urination to relieve water retention.
Concerns
about the cardiovascular effects of ephedra use,
including increased blood pressure and irregular
heart rhythm led the FDA to ban ephedra diet supplements
in April 2004. The ban on ephedra did not pertain
to traditional Chinese herbal remedies nor to
products like herbal teas that are regulated as
conventional foods. The ban also did not effect
ephedrine or pseudo ephedrine supplements.
This was the first time the FDA exercised its
power to stop the sale of a dietary supplement
ingredient and it prompted protest from the dietary
supplement industry.Consumer reaction to the ban
was mixed. While the FDA's alarm may have deterred
some, many devoted ephedra users found ways to
circumvent the ruling. A government survey following
the ban found that many New Yorkers were using
"copycat" products to achieve effects similar
to ephedra's.
Government officials called for
a ban on the copycat products as well, but their
calls were silenced by the next judge's ruling.In
April 2005 Judge Tena Campbell ruled in favor
of a Utah supplement company that challenged the
Food and Drug Administration's ban. Nutraceutical
Corporation claimed that ephedra has been safely
consumed for hundreds of years and that ephedra
was being wrongly regulated by the FDA as a drug
and not a food. Judge Campbell agreed. And while
federal law requires drug manufacturers to prove
that drugs are safe before putting them on the
market, dietary supplements (classified as a food)
are allowed on the market unless the FDA proves
that they are unsafe.
Since the FDA failed to demonstrate to the judge
that ephedra was unsafe in small doses, she lifted
the ban on sales of 10 mg or less.Dr. Cathy Wong,
a naturopathic physician, was among those who
welcomed the new ruling. She believed a ban on
ephedra was harsh and unnecessary, and pointed
out that the number of deaths attributed to ephedra
is a small percentage of total users compared
to the fatality rates of most major (and legal)
pharmaceutical drugs.The FDA, however, stands
by its ban on ephedra and suggests that because
the ruling allows only dosages of 10 mg or less,
the judge has upheld the FDA's claim that higher
dosages are harmful.
The FDA has not, as yet,
taken further steps to reenact the complete ban,
and as a result, many of the banned ephedra-based
diet supplements are now available again. Supplements
like Zenalean, Xenadrine, Ripped Fuel, and Metabolife
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