Ephedra: Asking For Trouble?

Ephedra: Please trouble. Ephedra, a member of the genus Ghedophyta, is a perennial aged shrub of 1/2 to 4 feet high. In this genus there are many species that inhabit the desert areas of certain regions of the world. In Asia, especially China and Mongolia, three kiwi fruits, middle ryegrass and Lilium californicus were discovered. Ephedra is from Europe. India and Pakistan are the home of E. Geraldiana. For North American species, E. Nevadensis (Mormon Tea), E is included.

Ephedra is a pharmaceutical preparation from Ephedra. Several other species belonging to the Ephedra genus have traditionally been used for various medicinal purposes and may be candidates for the Indian-Iranian religious Soma plants. It has been used for traditional Chinese herbal medicine for more than 2000 years. Native Americans and pioneers of Mormon drank other kinds of tea called "Mormon tea" and "Indian tea". In recent years, dietary supplements containing ephedrine alkaloids have been found to be unsafe, with severe side effects and mortality related to ephedra. Following evidence of ephedrine related side effects and evidence of death, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned sales of supplements containing ephedrine alkaloids in 2004. The prohibition was heard at the court of the manufacturer of Ephemeria, but finally passed the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in 2006.

On 30th December 2003, the FDA announced in April 2004 that it will ban the use of ephedra products in the United States. In April 2005, the dietary supplement industry challenged FDA 's ban on ephedra. One year after the start of the ephedra ban, federal judges in Utah state the FDA stated that the low dose ephedra was not proven to be harmful and rejected the FDA case. In August 2006, the Court of Appeals reversed the decision of Utah State judge to maintain FDA's ban on dietary supplements, including Ephedra. Obesity ephedra may cause moderate weight loss when used with exercise or low fat diet, but even healthy people who follow product dose guidelines can cause serious side effects. When taking ephedra, production seems to decrease by about 0.9 kg (about 2 pounds) per month for up to 6 months. It is unknown whether weight loss continues beyond this time frame or whether weight loss after ephedra is stopped.