Ephedra
The genus Ephedra is a stimulant plant which is used as a source of ephedrine. Ephedra is a perennial that is a native of Asia and was sold under the name Ma Huang. It is a stimulant which contains the herb form of ephedrine. Ephedrine is a regulated drug which was found in the over the counter medications for asthma. The dictionary definition of ephedra is that it is a white, odorless, powdered or crystalline alkaloid which is isolated from shrubs of the genus Ephedra or made synthetically. It is used in the treatment of allergies and asthma. The natural form of Ephedra was also added to added to diet supplements such as Trimspa before it was banned in the United States. Trimspa replaced the ephedra with hoodia gordonii in their diet pills after the Ephedra was banned.
Many makers of weight loss products were mislabeling their products . Their products contained more or less ephedra than it stated on the labels. Ephedrine are like amphetamines with lethal effects on the central nervous system and heart. The FDA received more than 800 reports of people having adverse effects connected to the products which contained ephedrine. The side effects from the products were stroke, high blood pressure, irregular heartbeat, nervousness, insomnia, tremors, seizures, and death. This is what brought on the banning of the Ephedra in the United States. Ephedra acts much like that of adrenaline. The effects are less powerful but they are more prolonged. It acts as a stimulant and can cause rapid or irregular heartbeats. It can also cause a rise in blood pressure, dilate the bronchial muscles, contract nasal mucus, and is a cardiac stimulant. These side effects can cause complications such as strokes, and heart problems that can result in cardiac arrest or death. There are four members of the Ephedrine family. They are ephedrine, nor-pseudo-ephedrine, nor-ephedrine, and pseudo-ephedrine. While some of these are weaker than others, they all can have serious side effects.
Consumers of ephedra had no way of knowing how much they were ingesting from the products so some were taking none at all and others were ingesting much more than they should have. The amounts were sometimes way above the danger level and many suffered side effects because of it. There were consumers who were compensated for problems caused by diet supplements and other medications which contained the dangerous amounts of ephedra. Ephedrine and caffeine is a dangerous combination. Many labels which state their products contain ma huang and guarana extract can be very misleading to those who do not know what they are. The herb Ephedrine grows in arid areas around the world. The names it goes by are mormon tea, ma huang, squaw tea, and herbal ecstasy. This can be very confusing to people.
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