It has been posted early on the journal's web site due to its health implications. The paper draws on a study the UCSF team prepared for the FDA, assessing 140 reports the agency received on adverse effects from supplements containing ephedra. The full report was published in the Federal Register earlier this year. Of these 43, three died, seven suffered permanent injury and four more required on-going medical treatment, the report said. They are stimulants, used for short-term energy boosts to enhance athletic performance and endurance, to help people exercise longer, feel more alert and to dampen appetite.
Studies indicate that weight loss with the aid of such products is only temporary.
In addition, as people continue to take ephedrine-containing supplements, the body becomes tolerant, and they must take more to get the same effect. The UCSF scientists also urged the FDA to move quickly to impose more uniform, mandatory labeling of contents and quantities. In addition, they said the claimed benefits of these products are questionable and unproven compared with potentially severe risks. So, we believe there are many more injuries than are represented by the FDA reports. When used as labeled, ephedrine-containing nutritional supplements present a significant and unreasonable risk of injury.