Diet Pills: The Deal on Ephedra

If you have tried many diet pills with no success and are wondering what the deal is with ephedra.. then read on.

Ephedra was banned in the US as an ingredient in diet pills on April 12, 2004, much to the dismay of dieters everywhere. The FDA banned ephedra because if abused it can be dangerous, which I'm sure you are aware. While most people that took ephedra had no problems with it and lost weight effectively, a few people did have very adverse reactions. The FDA saw these occurrences and thought it best to ban the substance to save the few people that will have adverse reactions. Personally, I think this is grossly unfair. If cigarettes are legal- they kill how many people each year?- then I wholly believe ephedra should also be legal. But since my opinion, or the effectiveness of the substance is irrelevant, we are no longer allowed to purchase diet pills that contain ephedra.

Let's say that again. You are not allowed to buy diet pills or weight loss aids that contains ephedra.

This is a bummer.

BUT there are other medications and supplements that contain ephedra that are not, in fact, illegal. Ephedra or ephedrine is a very popular ingredient in asthma and cold medications. Have you ever stumbled upon a website dedicated to weight loss and notice that they are selling Vasopro? That's weird right.. because its an asthma medication? Actually, no- because it contains 12.5 mg of ephedra. And it's legal to purchase.

Evidently ephedra only hurts people that use it for weight loss purposes- using it for your asthma or case of the sniffles is totally safe. Thanks, FDA, that makes total sense. *Kidding*

It's also legal to purchase substances that are natural sources of ephedra. Ma-huang is not the only source- there is also sida cordifolia. Or similar substances like Bitter Orange. You can still purchase those substances legally.

I'm not saying that you should go out and but a ton of cold medicine- or that you should take asthma medicine everyday when you don't have asthma. While I'm sure that this is a generally safe medication; I don't claim to know everything about it or how it is going to affect you. But if you are crying yourself to sleep because you miss, miss, miss ephedra- there are ways to still purchase it legally. Take that information as you will. I don't want you ephedra lovers purchasing diet pills online that contain ephedra and then end up getting yourself in trouble. But I mean, I also don't want you to go out and take a million asthma pills either. Be responsible- pay attention and listen to your body no matter what supplements you choose to take. Knowledge is power :)

Good luck on your weight loss efforts and hopefully I cleared up a little bit of confusion about purchasing ephedra and diet pills.