Ephedra comes under Congressional scrutiny

[Bob Hubbard]

From CNN:

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Many people who followed guidelines for using the herbal stimulant ephedra still reported health problems, congressional investigators found.

In addition, many complaints came from users under 30, the General Accounting Office said in testimony prepared for Wednesday's hearing on dietary supplements before the House Energy and Commerce oversight subcommittee.

Marcia Crosse, the GAO's acting director of health care-public health and science issues, said the reports of health problems made to drug-maker Metabolife International included heart attacks, strokes and seizures. Five deaths also were reported.

Crosse also noted the Food and Drug Administration has received more reports of problems from taking supplements with ephedra than any other ingredient.

Crosse said the problems reported to Metabolite "are consistent with the types of adverse events reported to FDA and with the documented physiological effects of ephedra." In addition, she said, the records of calls to Metabolite "contain reports of serious adverse effects in consumers who were young and among those who used the product within the recommended guidelines."

She said the average age of those who included an age when they called was 38, and ranged from 17 to 65. More than one-third were under 30.

In a statement submitted to the subcommittee, Metabolite said the company "strongly believes in the science supporting the safety and efficacy of dietary supplements that contain ephedra when used as directed."

The House subcommittee is holding two days of hearings on ephedra, which was thrust into the spotlight in February following the death of Baltimore Orioles minor league pitcher Steve Bechler, who had taken a dietary supplement containing ephedra.

Congress in 1994 severely limited federal oversight of dietary supplements.

"Based on all the evidence we have seen, the industry has not adequately addressed the safety of ephedra-based diet products," said Ken Johnson, a spokesman for House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Billy Tauzin, R-Louisiana.

Bans and court cases
The FDA is sifting through 16,000 comments responding to its March proposal to order warning labels on bottles of ephedra. The FDA has not tried to ban the product, despite reports of more than 100 deaths being linked to the herb, citing the 1994 law.

In May, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed the nation's first statewide ban on ephedra.

Kiley Bechler, the pitcher's widow, filed suit in federal court last week against the manufacturer and distributor of the supplement containing ephedra that was found in her husband's locker. The lawsuit names Cytodyne Technologies and its president, Robert Chinery, who also is on the House committee's witness list.

Medical Examiner Joshua Perper in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where Bechler died, said ephedra in the weight-loss supplement Xenadrine RFA-1 contributed to the heatstroke that killed the pitcher. Toxicology tests confirmed that "significant amounts" of the over-the-counter supplement and other factors led to the attack.

Cytodyne officials released a letter to the House committee from forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Baden, former New York City chief medical examiner, who says that ephedra didn't cause Bechler's death.

"At the time Mr. Bechler collapsed from heat stroke, much of the ephedrine he had swallowed was still in his stomach and had not yet entered his bloodstream," Baden wrote. The unabsorbed ephedrine "could not have caused or contributed to Mr. Bechler's death."

Ephedra is banned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the National Football League and the International Olympic Committee but not major league baseball.

Full story and other info at : http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/diet.fitness/07/23/ephedra.ap/index.html

 

[arnisador]

I work from the assumption that these things are scams.

 

[Rich Parsons]

Many of these suppliments are uppers or raise your metabolism, and thereby burn more energy from your body.

If you have health problems messing wiht this stuff by our self without understand the side effects and the symptoms to watch for.

I think Nightingale, had some good information on this topic.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

See here for more info on the drug:
http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?&threadid=3305