Guest opinion - Ephedrine safetyDate: 21.01.2003
Posted by: Anabolic Info Team United States
The history of ephedra dates back 5,000 years to the Far East. In recent years, an overweight, lazy, and out-of-shape America has begun using this ancient herb to promote weight loss, and athletes have begun using it to enhance performance. Not only does ephedra cut your appetite, but it also boosts your metabolism and gives you the drive to work out. Of course, with any great product comes controversy. Let me just give you the real facts based on actual scientific studies.
- In over 50 clinical trials, it has been shown that the ingestion of 6 doses of 25 mg of ephedrine for up to three years has no adverse effects on humans. That’s 2.5 times the recommended dosage of most diet pills.
- The ephedra/caffeine/aspirin stack has been proven to be as good or better than prescription diet drugs at promoting weight loss.
- Just about every death associated with ephedra can be traced to pre-existing medical conditions, an extreme disregard for recommended dosages, or other unusual circumstances. An example of this is the death of Minnesota Viking Korey Stringer: A 300-plus pound man working out in 100-plus degree heat with hardly any water. Yah, blame the ephedra.
- There are only six deaths annually in this country that are even remotely associated with ephedra. Compare that with the 430,000 people who die from smoking-related illnesses per year worldwide.
In college, where McDonalds, Marlboro and MGD rule, you need all the help you can get. To keep yourself from becoming morbidly obese and dying of heart disease at the ripe age of 40, there are a number of things you can do. Quit smoking (and don’t tell me you can’t because I did); eat plenty of protein while cutting back on the carbs and saturated fats, drink in moderation, and work out as often as possible. Ephedra can help you get the most out of your workouts, and it can also help you lay off that donut that would normally bring you to your knees.
I can tell you from personal experience that ephedra is a godsend. It helped me lose 50 pounds in four months in preparation for my first bodybuilding show. It helps me get up at 6:30 a.m. and lift hard and still have the energy to study at night.
Regardless of what you think about the media’s portrayal of body image, it is a proven fact that people who are overweight and/or obese have more health-related problems. Therefore, it seems as if the FDA would welcome a product like ephedra instead of shunning it based only on anectodal evidence of harm.
If you don’t believe me that ephedra is a safe and effective weight loss aid, check out recent studies done by the National Institute of Health or the plethora of private studies done at universities across the country. It is the ignorance of people like those of The California Aggie Editorial Board that are giving the FDA a reason to ban this great product with absolutely no scientific evidence of it being deleterious. Get informed now before it is too late.
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