Banned Stimulant ‘Oxilofrine’ In Many Dietary Supplements

A banned stimulant, ‘oxilofrine’ is reportedly hiding out in at least fourteen non-prescription dietary supplements. According to NPR many popular dietary supplements used to stimulate fat loss or improve athletic performance may contain the dangerous and banned stimulant oxilofrine. A research paper published today confirms the presence of oxilofrine – a banned stimulant with potentially dangerous side effects – in at least fourteen dietary supplements, causing some observers to criticize the dangerously unregulated dietary supplement industry.

Oxilofrine, also called methylsynephrine and p-hydroxephedrine is a cardiac stimulant that is most commonly used on patients under anesthesia – as the drug enhances heart function. Oxilofrine is used by medical professionals but it is not supposed to be in dietary supplements which the FDA states can only contain ‘dietary ingredients’ – things like amino acids, vitamins, and most commonly caffeine. Dietary supplements, while largely unregulated, are restricted by the FDA against containing any pharmaceutical grade drugs, like oxilofrine.

According to NPR, the World Anti-Doping Agency has banned oxilofrine use by athletes, calling the stimulant a ‘performance enhancing drug’. The authors of the study released today, confirming the presence of oxilofrine fourteen dietary supplements, caution against its use in part because consuming such high doses of the drug may have unintended consequences.

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— Adderall Addiction ✚ (@AdderallSupport) April 7, 2016

“The potential adverse health effects of consuming up to 250mg of oxilofrine per day, as would be possible with the supplements in our study, are entirely unknown,” reads the study released today by Drug Testing & Analysis.

The Drug Testing & Analysis report suggests that users of dietary supplements containing oxilofrine can suffer from serious cardiac issues when consuming the drug, including arrhythmia and increased blood pressure. The risks posed by consumption of oxilofrine in dietary supplements are potentially most dangerous for adolescents and children, the report claims.

“Of particular concern with respect to the safety of oxilofrine in sports supplements is that more than one million youth athletes in the USA use sports supplements. Their relatively small developing bodies might be particularly vulnerable to adult dosages of oxilofrine,” reads the report released today by Drug Testing & Analysis.

Many of the supplements which contain oxilofrine contain ‘adult dosages’ of the powerful pharmaceutical drug, which would be well in excess of what adolescent bodies could handle, claims the report. In 2013 for instance, a soldier returned from Afghanistan died of cardiac arrest after consuming dietary supplements which may have contained dangerous unregulated stimulants like oxilofrine.

Some Fat-Burning Supplements Contain Banned Stimulant Drug https://t.co/cu4jgDWP7e oxilofrine: https://t.co/r5vqJCTs3s

— Stephanie Springer (@stephaniekays) April 7, 2016

“Usual oxilofrine doses for children and adolescents range from 8 to 24mg, therefore, adolescents using supplements analyzed in our study might consume more than 3 times the highest pediatric does of oxilofrine,” reads the report released today by Drug Testing & Analysis.

Some of the dietary supplements which contain oxilofrine, the study authors found, even listed the banned pharmaceutical drug on their labels, right out in the open. The supplements in question were marketed as pre-workout supplements, nutrition pills to boost performance during a workout – none were advertised as pharmaceutical grade stimulants.

“It’s sold as a pre-workout supplement, to get pumped up and have better workouts,” said Pieter Cohen, one of the study’s co-authors.

Cohen and his team ran lab tests on about 27 dietary supplements with methylsynephrine on the labels, and discovered that a majority of the supplements tested positive for oxilofrine, six of which contained high pharmaceutical grade dosages of the stimulant. The FDA has confirmed, reports NPR, that there have been at least 47 reports of ‘adverse incidents’ after consumers have used supplements containing oxilofrine.

The study which discovered the presence of oxilofrine, a dangerous stimulant in unregulated dietary supplements was authored as part of a collaboration between scientists at Harvard Medical School, Cambridge Health Alliance, and the National center for Natural Products Research.

[Photo by Tim Boyle/Getty Images]

Banned Stimulant ‘Oxilofrine’ In Many Dietary Supplements is an article from: The Inquisitr News