yeah ive been offered that too!
is it good stuff?
is it really bad for your heart?

that's ephedrine Farhad

From http://www.ephedrafacts.com/

Consumer Information


Dietary supplements containing ephedrine alkaloids are formulated to enhance energy and promote weight loss. Here are some of the things you might like to know about Ephedra and Ephedra products.

Ephedra Is An Herb

Ephedra sinica, also known as ma huang, is the plant most commonly used as a source of Ephedra products. Ma huang is a popular dietary supplement in the United States and has been used for thousands of years in Chinese medicine. Ephedra includes "ephedrine alkaloids," which are naturally occurring compounds that are found in plants.

Ephedra dietary supplements generally contain standardized extracts that have 6 to 8 percent ephedrine alkaloids. Manufacturers are required by law to declare the amount of ephedrine alkaloids in each serving.

There is a difference between ephedrine alkaloids and synthetic ephedrine. Ephedrine is only one of the naturally occurring alkaloids present in Ephedra extracts. Other alkaloids include pseudoephedrine (which is less potent than ephedrine) and alkaloids that slow the absorption of ephedrine from the digestive tract and/or counteract the stimulant effects of the ephedrine in the extracts. However, synthetic ephedrine, which is used in a number of common cold remedies, is not a naturally occurring substance. Synthetic ephedrine can be easily identified on the label of these cold products as "ephedrine hydrocloride."

The majority of Ephedra products contain naturally occurring ephedrine alkaloids. Industry standards and some state laws prohibit the use of synthetic ephedrine in Ephedra dietary supplement products. If a product contains synthetic ephedrine, the EEC recommends that you not purchase the product.



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Ephedra Is Safe When Taken As Directed

Experts who have reviewed all of the available historical and clinical data agree: You can take Ephedra safely if you stick to the serving limits and follow the warnings and precautions adopted by the Industry.

Industry adopted these standards as a recommendation for distributors, marketers and consumers of dietary supplement products containing ephedrine alkaloids. A panel of experts from a variety of scientific and medical backgrounds endorsed the standards that the trade recommendation established. In addition, several states, including Ohio, Michigan, Nebraska, Texas, Oklahoma, Hawaii, and Washington have adopted portions of these standards as state law.

What are Industry's recommended serving limits, warnings, and precautions?

Although many Ephedra product manufacturers follow the industry recommendation, not all do, so check the label of your Ephedra product to make sure it bears the recommended serving limits and warnings. If information and warnings comparable to those listed in the trade recommendation are not included on the label, then the EEC recommends that you do not purchase the product. It is very important that you read products labels, warnings and cautions, and follow the directions. Ephedra is not for everyone and must be used responsibly.



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Science Supports The Safety And Effectiveness Of Ephedra

Scientific studies confirm that Ephedra products are safe when used as part of an overall weight-loss program. In particular, a six-month study by researchers at Harvard and Columbia Universities on Ephedra/caffeine products concluded that the products were safe and produced significant weight loss. Nevertheless, critics of Ephedra often cite Adverse Event Reports (AERs), which are anecdotal reports compiled by the Food and Drug Administration, as cause for concern. However, even the critics agree that AERs are not reliable. The same medical and scientific experts that supported AHPA's trade recommendation have also reviewed the AERs. The panel of experts concluded that the AERs do not provide sufficient evidence to link significant adverse events to Ephedra. The General Accounting Office investigators reached the same conclusion in its report to Congress.



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AERs Do Not Negate The Science Supporting Safety And Efficacy Of Ephedra

An AER is a report made to FDA by a consumer or health care professional. These reports contain information of widely varying degrees of quality concerning adverse events that may be related to the ingestion of a product. While widely reported as a basis for concern, FDA itself admits that these reports are subjective, do not represent scientific data, cannot be used as a basis for scientific regulation, and ordinarily cannot be used to determine if the adverse event was caused by the product in question.

FDA's longstanding practice is to use AERs as a signal to consult the available data on a product to determine if the reported events are consistent with the data. Without such consultation, an AER has no scientific significance. Industry's principal objection to FDA's statements and ensuing public debate is that it has been based entirely on the scientifically invalid AERs and not on scientific data.

A relatively small number of ephedra AERs have been reported when one considers how widely consumed the product is in the United States. (See industry survey) In spite of the proportionally small number of reports, the EEC has been a strong advocate for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health and its Office of Dietary Supplements to study all the available scientific data on Ephedra in order to evaluate whether the AERs collected by FDA provide any cause for concern.



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Ephedra Is Useful

The ephedrine alkaloids in Ephedra act as a mild stimulant, with effects similar to those of caffeine. Ephedra products can enhance energy and, when used in conjunction with a healthy diet, they can also lead to weight loss.

Here are some comments from consumers like you.



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Ephedra And Other Dietary Supplements Are Regulated By The Government

In 1994, the United States Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA), which amended the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDC Act). DSHEA gave the FDA substantial new policing authority to stop the distribution of unsafe dietary supplements. Widely repeated assertions that dietary supplements are unregulated are simply incorrect ‚ extensive requirements regulating product quality and product claims are in effect, and industry supports vigorous enforcement of these requirements.



The Public Policy Center has additional information about the FDC Act and DSHEA.



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Obesity – A National Epidemic

Obesity is one of our nation's foremost health problems and is directly link to numerous other diseases, including heart disease, hypertension and diabetes. In December 2001, the U.S. Surgeon General sounded the alarm, releasing a "Call to Action to Prevent and Decrease Overweight and Obesity." The Call to Action included some frightening obesity statistics:



Nearly 40 million American adults are obese

The national obesity average jumped from 12% in 1991 to 19.8% in 2000

Some 300,000 Americans die from obesity-related diseases every year -- making obesity second only to smoking as a leading cause of premature death in the U.S.


Drs. Roland Sturm of Rand and Kenneth Wells of Rand also studied our national obesity epidemic and discovered that the health risks associated with obesity are greater than those associated with smoking, drinking or poverty. According to the study, the findings suggest that weight reduction should be an urgent public health priority.

By stimulating weight loss, Ephedra products can be a valuable weapon in the battle against excess weight , and as research shows, weight loss helps cut the risk of other health problems. It is very important that you read products labels, warnings and cautions and follow the directions. Ephedra is not for everyone and must be used responsibly.

You can determine whether or not Ephedra products can help you in your overall health program by first calculating your Body Mass Index (BMI). BMI is a tested method to determine if you should be concerned about your weight. Of course, you should contact your physician or other health care professional to obtain specific information and advice concerning your weight and health.

If I am correct, this supplement is banned here in Australia as it is the main ingredient in Speed. So I doubt that it would be good for your health.

it's not the main ingredient in speed
it was peddled to kids as speed and because it was OTC it was abused by kids, You can still get it on prescription as you can with clenbuterol, another very powerful fat burner. And also, the reason that baseball played died was not because of ephedrine alone, he was diagnosed with high blood pressure or something and you shouldnt take ephedrine with those conditions.

The Internation Olympic Committee (IOC) have it as a banned substance.

It is a stimulant.

It is common around the world in cold remedies - check the labels!!

If you take it, you will fail a dope test.

Think carefully - stay clean - stay healthy - save your money!

Smiler

Cheers .. Fahad ya know ya stuff !! Im not and will not be using them don't worry , its just it was mentioned and i couldn't find any info on them ... cheers for the help .............. ill be sticking to good hard slog in the gym !!

New flash - it has just been taken off the banned substabces list (last week I believe) - to avoid people testing positive for doping when afflicted by a cold two weeks before the event ... not sure what the limited now are for the drug but there is some maximum limit ...

Fahad-

It appears that somebody has been using illicit substances.YOU. Good info on ephedra, but you also said that CLENBUTEROL is a powerful fat burner. Your doctor will NOT prescribe clenbuterol for fat loss. Why, you ask. Because clenbuterol is not a fat burner, it's a beta-2 antagonist. It is basically a respiratory steroid. It does not "burn fat". One of the side effects is increased thermogenesis, which is raised body temperature which results in calorie wasting, as well as a beta-2/beta-3 transform which creates a hyperactive thyroid.

No the doc won't prescribe clen for fat loss, and it won't work well without a good T3 Receptor

Btw i've never done Clen, I just know alot of body builders who i talk to about nutrition and subsequentally they tell me about their cycles and shit

Sh*t being the appropriate word!

Yes, I am genetically predispositioned, but I've now put 14kg on this year, a good 9-10kg of muscle, and the only supplement I've taken was creatine. And chocolate!

And has my fitness suffered?

Nope - my heart beat tests in Vegas were lower than Remy Bonjanski's - and we all know how fit he is!! Nuuurrrrghhh nurrrgh!!

Gotta question whether alot of supplements are necessary. I've piled on more muscle than may roid junkies. Train smart. Train clever. Stay clean - stay healthy!

Smiler

That is awesome Smiler! Gear is not a necessary component to a training regimen. It can get you there alot faster, but that is if it is done "clinically", which nobody seems to do. These juice freaks get their black market shit and start shoving inhumane amounts of it in their bodies because they want to be huge-NOW. They have no knowlege on it except for the crap that they hear from buddies that have taken anabolics. Another drawback is that it creates an environment for Hyperplasia(building NEW fiber) and increases protein synthesis which will put muscle on you, but does not guarantee that it is strong or fast. So, most athletes use it so that they don't have to work as hard. Big does not mean strong though. And we are more interested in srength right?
Aside from all of that, it is just not worth it. We get tested randomly. Let's say you get one of those random tests and test positive. Now all of that hard work that you endured to be at the level that you are is nullified because people now will think "oh, the only reason that he has done so well is because he cheated. You lose credibility. Not worth it at all!
-KIT

yeah well done smiler

I agree that 90% of supplements out there are BS

Apart from A good Multi vitamin, Fish oils, Glucosomine, and a good post workout protein shake, most of the other stuff is crap

During my sports science studies when i left school i did an in depth essay on many steroids, I have pasted some extracts from my studies on the drug you mention below. All of the below I then had to proove with real life cases, which wasntd too difficult in a gym full of doormen! :-)

Ephedrine belongs to the group of sympathomimetics. Although it is not a hormone compoun it offers the athlete three interesting effects.

On the one hand, this occurs since Ephedrine produces heat in the body (thermogenesis). Simplified, Ephedrine slightly increases the body temperature. On the other hand, Ephedrine stimulates the thyroid gland to transform the weaker LT-4 (L-thyroxine) into the stronger LT-3 (liothyronine. Competing bodybuilders have appreciated this for quite some time. Second, Ephedrine has anti catabolic characteristics.
Finally, athletes often use Ephedrine as since it has a mild amphetamine-like effect on the central nervous system (CNS). It is important to note that Ephedrine, administered for this purpose, is not to be taken regularly otherwise, the body gets accustomed to it and the effect decreases, and much higher dosages are needed.

Side effects can manifest themselves in the form of more rapid heart beat, insomnia, tremors (light trembling of the fingers), headaches, dizziness, high blood pressure, and lack of appetite. The last characteristic, however, is much appreciated by athletes on a diet. Ephedrine must not be taken when high blood pressure, a severe hyperfunction of the thyroid gland, irregular heart rhythm, or a recent myocardiac infarction are present. In Europe Ephedrine is a prescription drug which is mostly available in combination with other substances. Such a combination compound, for example, is the German drug Perspiran N, which contain an additional 25 mg Ephedrine hydrochioride and 125 mg tlieopriyiline per tablet. Ephedrine as mentioned in the above posts is in many decongesgants aswel such as lemsip!

Hope this helps.