Ephedra Lawyers

A consumer group Wednesday petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to ban dietary supplements containing ephedra, an herbal stimulant linked to heart attacks, strokes and other health problems.

Products containing ephedra and ephedra extract, also known as ma-huang, are widely promoted for weight loss and athletic performance enhancement. In 2000, U.S. sales of weight-loss products containing ephedra hit $1 billion, a 10%-12% increase over the previous year, according to Grant Ferrier of the Nutrition Business Journal .

From January 1993 until this past February, the FDA received 1,393 reports of adverse events — including 81 deaths — linked to ephedra supplements, according to the Public Citizen Health Research Group's petition to the agency.

"They're amphetamines, and we have known for decades what amphetamines do," says pharmacologist Ray Woosley, who co-signed the petition. Such compounds raise heart rate and blood pressure, which, in susceptible individuals, increases heart attack and stroke risk, says Woosley, dean of the University of Arizona School of Medicine.

Because there is no requirement that makers of dietary supplements report adverse events to the FDA, the actual number is probably much higher, says Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen. "The FDA has done everything possible to avoid taking these things off the market," Wolfe says. "It's a big political issue."

Last year, the FDA decided to ban phenylpropanolamine, or PPA, a compound related to ephedra, in over-the-counter weight-loss aids and cold remedies. But ephedra is marketed as a dietary supplement, over which the FDA has much less power.