• Assessment
    What are the acute and chronic effects of administration or changes in chemical use of ephedra on resting metabolic rate?
    • Conclusion

      While ephedrine is a mixed sympathomimetic agent and increases heart rate, rise in blood pressure and central nervous system stimulation similar to caffeine, no primary research studies reporting resting metabolic rate changes in adults were appraised. A high-quality, meta-analysis on the use of ephedra in weight loss (e.g., an outcome resulting from an imbalance between metabolic oxidation rates and lowered energy consumption) and a position paper by the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (with a tenet of providing “evidence on the rational and safe drug therapy”) indicates that until objective scientific information demonstrates a unique and potentially important therapeutic role for products, health professionals should not promote use.  Furthermore, in an alert dated February 2004, the FDA prohibited the sale of ephedra-containing supplements effective April 12, 2004, due to a determination that ephedra presents an unreasonable risk of illness or injury. Adverse health effects include heart attack and stroke. See: http://www.fda.gov/oc/initiatives/ephedra/february2004/ .

    • Grade: V
      • Grade I means there is Good/Strong evidence supporting the statement;
      • Grade II is Fair;
      • Grade III is Limited/Weak;
      • Grade IV is Expert Opinion Only;
      • Grade V is Not Assignable.
      • High (A) means we are very confident that the true effect lies close to that of the estimate of the effect;
      • Moderate (B) means we are moderately confident in the effect estimate;
      • Low (C) means our confidence in the effect estimate is limited;
      • Very Low (D) means we have very little confidence in the effect estimate.
      • Ungraded means a grade is not assignable.