Look Good or Die Tryin

In modern American culture looking sexy is not just a battle that takes place in high schools and college campuses, it is a lifelong struggle. People everywhere are looking for ways to speed up the weight loss process; many have found tragically that it is not worth the risk. I'm sure all of us have been tempted at one time or another to supplement our diets with an over the counter herbal weight loss supplement. These supplements can be bought at almost any department store or gas station. The truth is that most of these drugs are either very potent and should not be taken without ongoing medical examinations, or they are not powerful at all and the shopper ends up wasting his or her money and throwing the bottle away. Why don't these work all the time? That is because herbal medicines are typically taken from a plant or oils of plants. While the plants or herbs that the medicine is extracted from may contain a chemical that could aid in weight loss, they also contain chemical compounds which might cause an undesired effect or none at all. Herbal supplements are a lot like drugs sold on the street because they are not purely one herb or another. This is where traditional medications are different from dietary supplements. Prescribed medications are taken from plants also, but they are harvested and the specific chemical is extracted from the plant. Over the counter supplements are just ground up herbs and plants. When a user buys crack or heroin, they think they are buying pure product, but in actuality, they are purchasing any number of harmful chemicals and ingesting or injecting the chemicals directly into the bloodstream. Similarly, when a user of dietary supplements buys a bottle of Xenadrine or Hydroxycut, which were two very popular supplements until the harmful effects of ephedrine became known, they don't know for sure what they are ingesting. Ephedrine is a very powerful herb that caused many people to lose weight. It also causes high blood pressure, irregular heart rhythms, nerve damage, insomnia, tremors (uncontrollable shaking), headaches, seizures, heart attacks, strokes, and in some cases death. That is a very long list of risks or "side effects" associated with only one type of herb. In a 2000 study of Ephedrine by the group Halt Ephedrine Abuse Today, sixty percent of the 355 people surveyed reported feeling mental side effects such as nervousness, headaches, and insomnia. Most diet pills contain more herbs than just Ephedrine, which makes them more dangerous because of the combination of several different herbs and plants which may have adverse effects against the others. Steve Bechler, who was a pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles, died from taking diet pills containing Ephedrine during spring workouts. His temperature soared to 108Ñ" before he passed away. When his autopsy was completed, the coroner found large amounts of Ephedrine in his bloodstream. Bechler is not the only death attributed to Ephedrine use; according to a website offering legal advice to Ephedrine users, Ephedrine has sickened or killed eight hundred users (www.ephedrine-ephedra.com)!

We always hear that multivitamins and herbal teas are healthy. Why then can these same pills harm us? The answer is simple, like any food or prescription drug herbal supplements are only healthy in small amounts. Excessive amounts of vitamins and minerals can be very harmful. For example, prolonged high doses of Vitamin A can lead to liver damage and birth defects in pregnant women. Excess vitamin B6 can impair your nervous system functions. As a matter of fact, mega doses of some vitamins can be toxic! Vitamins like Vitamin A are stored in the liver and too much of this vitamin can cause severe liver malfunctions and damage. Here are some other familiar vitamin supplements which can be very harmful when taken in large doses. Vitamin A can cause birth defects and severe liver disease. Niacin can cause vomiting, cramping, liver disease, eye damage and heart injury. Vitamin B2 can cause balance difficulties and nerve damage (FDA Consumer 1998). You could expand even more on all kinds of herbal supplements and how their formulation is unregulated and their purity often uncontrolled. More is not always better when it comes to any type of herbal supplement.

Why are none of these dietary supplements approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration)? Dietary supplements such as Metabolife, Ripped Fuel, and Hydroxycut, are not regulated or approved by the FDA because they are regulated by the DSHEA or Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act passed in 1994 (Ephedra 2005). The law says that the United States cannot regulate dietary supplements unless they are unsafe, such as Ephedrine (Ephedra 2005). Ephedrine is monitored by the DEA because it can be used to make methamphetamines (speed)! In 1997, the FDA tried to enact a rule that would classify some products containing Ephedrine as 'Adulterated Supplements.' It was not passed and Ephedrine continued to dominate the herbal weight-loss supplement market. Now that the drug has been proven unsafe by the FDA, it has been taken off the dietary supplement market.

Now that the Ephedrine buzz has died down, what is in diet pills to make them so potent and dangerous? Well, TrimSpa, the dietary supplement of choice for former Playboy centerfold Anna Nicole Smith, is a supplement containing extremely high doses of caffeine. Caffeine is a drug found in soda, coffee, and chocolate which speeds the heart rate and increases your metabolism. While caffeine is not anywhere near as powerful as Ephedrine, it does have mental side effects and causes noticeable changes in your physiological behavior. Also there is Androstenedione (andro) which is what Mark McGwire was taking when he broke the Major League home run record in 1998.

There is no age limit on over the counter supplements. A seven year old could walk into Wal-Mart and purchase a bottle of Ripped Fuel. This is alarming because it is unethical to allow a child to purchase a substance that