Yes virginia...Ephedra is back...ish

If that title didn't get your attention let me say it again: Ephedra. Is. Back.

I am always looking out for any news that we feel out friends can benefit from when it comes to health and wellness so I had to post about this one.

Apparently, the ephedra ban was lifted in 2009 when a Utah judge ruled on a lawsuit against the FDA’s decision to take ephedra off the market in 2004.

Now let me give you a little history on why ephedra was banned in the first place with help from Mr. Wikipedia:

"In 1997, in response to mounting concern over serious side effects of ephedra, the FDA proposed a ban on products containing 8 mg or more of ephedrine alkaloids and stricter labeling of low-dose ephedra supplements. The FDA also proposed that ephedra labels be required to disclose the health risks of ephedra, such as heart attack, stroke, or death.

In response, the supplement industry created a public relations group, the Ephedra Education Council, to oppose the changes, and commissioned a scientific review by a private consulting firm, which reported that ephedra was safe. The Ephedra Education Council also attempted to block publication of a study confirming wide discrepancies between the labeled potency of supplements and the actual amount of ephedra in the product.

During this time, Metabolife, makers of the best-selling brand of ephedra supplement, had received over 14,000 complaints of adverse events associated with its product; these reports were not provided to the FDA. Co-founder of Metabolife, Michael J. Ellis, has been sentenced to six months in Federal prison for his failure to report adverse effects from his company's products to the FDA. Senators Orrin Hatch and Tom Harkin, authors of the Dietary Supplements Health and Education Act, questioned the scientific basis for the FDA's proposed labeling changes and suggested that the number of problems reported were insufficient to warrant regulatory action. At the time, Hatch's son was working for a firm hired to lobby Congress and the FDA on behalf of ephedra manufacturers.

In addition to the activities of the Ephedra Education Council, Metabolife spent more than $4 million between 1998 and 2000 lobbying against state regulation of ephedra in Texas. Business Week reported that efforts to regulate ephedra and other potentially harmful supplements had been "beaten down by deep-pocketed industry lobbying."

Ultimately, in 2000, the FDA withdrew the proposed labeling changes and restrictions."

So in 2005 Judge Tena Campbell ruled that the FDA has to reevaluate their decision to ban ephedrine alkaloid containing supplements, and also are prohibited from taking any enforcement action against the plaintiffs to prevent the sale of their dietary supplement containing 10 mg or less of ephedrine alkaloids per daily dose.

So after being challenged once more and overruled once more ephedra is back, though not like most would expect it to be.

Because the case is still open and its being looked over for any loop holes most company's will not take the chance of releasing a product based solely on ephedra (looked what happened with the geranium oil) and risk having to pull their products off the market and reformulate it.

You can find some products with real ephedra in them at reasonable amounts if you look hard enough and know what your doing.

Will ephedra ever be welcomed back into the fitness community with open arms again? I'm not sure, but for now it can at least come over for a play date,for a little while.

Till next time,
Mikie