Sep 09
2
What suplements you should avoid
Previously I posted on the topic of what supplements you might want, and explained a little about what they did. I felt I would be doing everyone a disservice by not pointing out supplements you will want to avoid.
- Fen-phen
- Ephedra/Ephedrine
- Alli
I realize that Both Ephedra and Fen-Phen have been out of the news for a while, but both are still pretty to get your hands on in the back alleys of the web, and I wanted people new to this stuff to have a basic knowledge of things.
Fen-Phen hit in the mid 90’s and had more than modest success. It’s actually made up of 2 drugs named Phentermine (phen) and Fenfluramine (fen). The two drugs worked independently on the nervous system. Phentermine blocked the absorption of a neurotransmitter called dopamine, raising the body’s temperature and increasing metabolic rate. Fenfluramine worked on the nuerotransmitter called serotonin which would make someone feel calm and full. Unforchunetly it was found that Fen-Phen could also lead to valvular heart disease and pulmonary hypertension, and was pulled from the market by the FDA in 1997.
Ephedra is a stimulant and a metabolism booster. These effects come from the chemicals ephedrine and pseudoephedrine. These compounds stimulated the brain, increased heart rate, and constricted blood vessels (which increased blood pressure) and increased the metabolism and heat generated by the body. These traits made Ephedra an excellent stimulant and weight loss drug. Ephedra also caused skin reactions, irritability, nervousness, dizziness, trembling, headache, insomnia, profuse perspiration, dehydration, itchy scalp and skin, vomiting, hyperthermia, irregular heartbeat, seizures, heart attack, stroke, or death, which made it not so excellent. In 2004 the FDA banned the substance. Many products today bear the term “Natural Ephedra” or “ephedrine-free” ephedra. Studies show that these alternatives are little better than Ephedra itself.
Alli, as opposed to the first 2 drugs, is actually approved by the FDA, and is meant to be used in conjunction with a healthy diet and exercise. So what’s the problem? Basically alli prevents the body from absorbing about 25% of the fat you eat. But the fat has to go somewhere and this is where it gets nasty. Alli users are advised to where dark pants and bring spare changes of pants and underwear because the undigested fat comes out unannounced causing the user to literally craps their pants in a runny orange-ish mess. While the manufacturer is upfront about this and says it prevents people from cheating on their, is it really worth it? Seriously, would you rather be held hostage by your fear of craping your pants or just eat healthier and let your body loose the weight naturally?
Personally it’s not a hard choice.