Whoever thought Herbal Fen-Phen was a Good Idea?

June 29th, 2009. By AbiK

Over 10 years after the Fen-Phen diet fad, those who either took Fen-Phen or switched to its “All-Natural!” counterpart, Ephedra (aka herbal Fen-Phen), are questioning whether it was a good idea to get on that diet supplement bandwagon. I’m questioning who the heck thought it was a good idea in the first place. Read on for some interesting tidbits about Ephedra…

Ephedra is known as “Kiddie Meth”.

At least according to urbandictionary.com it is. Yes, sugar is too—but in a “gee, isn’t little Johnny so rambunctious after that cupcake” way. With Ephedra, you need to factor in that it’s been associated with the production of methamphetamine. Keep in mind that the plant from which Ephedra hails—Ephedra sinica—contains the alkaloids ephedrine and pseudoephedrine—and pseudoephedrine is the former OTC allergy relief medicine ingredient that now has its sales monitored by your pharmacist—seems it was a favorite ingredient for illegal meth production. (Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act of 2005, signed as part of the Patriot Act in 2006).

Ephedra (ma huang) has had some other cute nicknames.

Some of these are Whorehouse tea, Natural Ecstasy, Miscarriage Tea. Typically, things have a nickname for a reason, no?

Ephedra has had some other interesting uses.

According to the mayoclinic.com, Ephedra’s been used for the following ailments or conditions: alertness, anaphylaxis (a severe allergic reaction), anti-inflammatory, antiviral, appetite suppressant, arthritis, athletic performance enhancer, bed-wetting, body building, colds, cough, depression, diuretic, dyspnea (shortness of breath), edema, fatigue, fevers, flu, freckle-removing, gonorrhea, gout, hives, joint pain, kidney disease, lack of perspiration, liver spots, metabolic enhancement, myasthenia gravis, narcolepsy, nephritis, stimulant, syphilis, upper respiratory tract infections, uterine stimulant.

Ephedra has a lengthy list of potential side effects.

In addition to those that brought on the ban of Ephedra such as PPH (Primary Pulmonary Hypertension), chest tightness, irregular heart rhythms, damage to the heart muscle, high blood pressure, heart attack, inflammation of the heart, fluid retention in the lungs, breathing difficulties, dilated cardiomyopathy, left ventricular systolic dysfunction, coronary dissection, thrombosis, or cardiac arrest, the mayoclinic.com also states these potential Ephedra side effects:

• abdominal discomfort
• anxiety
• dizziness
• headache
• tremor
• insomnia
• dry mouth
• delirium
• fainting
• irritability
• euphoria
• hallucinations
• seizures
• stroke
• exaggerated reflexes
• weakness
• muscle aches
• muscle damage
• depression
• mania
• agitation
• suicidal ideas
• Parkinson’s disease-like symptoms

With all that going for it-and much of the above had been documented prior to the diet fad (after all, Ephedra’s been around for over 5,000 years)-why would anyone have thought this could be a really great, natural, safe, everybody-can-use-it diet supplement?

Tags: Ephedra, Fen-Phen, PPH

This was posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 12:37 pm and is filed under Emerging Issues . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.