Study Confirms Ephedrine Diet Supplements Can Kill

Friday, October 15th, 2004

This headline, Study Confirms Ephedrine Diet Supplements Can Kill, presents the findings in a fairly dramatic manner:

‘For our experiment, we went to the local health food store, bought ephedrine supplements and gave our animals the dose recommended on the label,’ Adamson told a briefing sponsored by the American Medical Association.

‘In past experiments on obese, otherwise healthy individuals, ephedrine did not raise their heart rates when they were either at rest or exercising,’ Adamson added.

‘When we gave healthy animals ephedrine, we found exactly the same thing. But the moment they developed a blockage in their heart artery, which we are able to cause reversibly, their heart rates went through the roof.’

These fast heart rates, called fibrillation, can kill.

So, ephedrine has no negative effects on healthy individuals, but it can cause fast heart rates in individuals with clogged arteries. And that “certainly supports the FDA’s decision to ban ephedrine from dietary supplements”?

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