Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Looking into Ephedra

Aired February 27, 2003 - 08:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We are paging Dr. Sanjay Gupta right now about one of today's most controversial health issues. It's ephedra. Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler died a bit earlier this month a day after suffering trouble during a spring training program. He's working out there during the baseball season right now, and a medical examiner says ephedra did contribute to his death.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta back with some answers to talk about ephedra, what we need to know about this.

Sanjay, good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

It's a huge industry, the diet supplementary industry. The herbal supplementary issue is about a $40 billion industry, and if you look at diet supplements, that's a huge chunk of it. Ephedra is a product that's been out there for quite sometime, comes from a herb known as ma-huang (ph), and it's actually found in a whole host of different supplements. People oftentimes just now the brand names, but sometimes, they'll know that ephedra is actually located in Metab- o-lite, Rip fuel (ph), Diet Fuel (ph).

You can take a look at the whole long list of things there.

The most amazing thing, Bill, and I think the thing that is so controversial is that anybody can really walk into these stores, diet stores or any store really, and buy these supplements. It's a largely unregulated industry, and that's concerning, because it has been linked, associated with deaths; it has been associated with adverse effects.

Let me make a point about the regulation. When the FDA decides to regulate a drug, that means the makers of the drug have to prove that it's safe before it goes to market. If it's unregulated drug, or herb in this case, then the makers only -- it only has to be proven that it's unsafe after it's already on the market. You can already see the shift there.

I mentioned death, adverse effects. All the different sorts of adverse effects that ephedra has been linked to are significant. Take a look at the list there, again, high-blood pressure insomnia, nervousness, tremors, headaches, a long list of things.

Bill, Finally, a lot of people who take these dietary supplements oftentimes do have weight problems already, and already have some of these problems with their heart with things like that already, so if you're actually exacerbating that by taking a herb like ephedra, that can just worsen the problem.

HEMMER: Quick medical lesson. Give us a basic idea here for what the impact is on the body. You list a number of things there, blood pressure, etc., but what is the effect?

GUPTA: Why does it work? That's the question about ephedra that I get asked a lot. If you look at it, it's what is known as a thermogenic aid. The name's not that important, but basically, what it does, it boosts your metabolism. It actually creates heat, and sometimes, that heat is actually used to burn fat.

As a consequence of that, you get a lot of those adverse effects that we just saw, again, increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, but that's basically how it works.

Bill, another thing about it is the ephedra industry has been very vocal about this as well. It's a huge industry. What they say is that 90 milligrams a day is safe. If you take 90 milligrams a day, no more, you shouldn't get into any trouble. They claim the people end up getting into trouble, having those adverse effects, are people that are taking too much, people that are popping the Metab-o-lite pills too frequently -- Bill.

HEMMER: Well, listen, we have heard a number of efforts against it. Are they winning right now, those who oppose ephedra? Where does that lie right now?

GUPTA: There is a lot of opposition to it. The NCAA, the NFL, the International Olympic Committee. The AMA has asked that it be looked into it more closely. A county in the New York wants to ban the sale of ephedra. So there is a lot of opposition to ephedra.

Ephedra, the industry, sort of interestingly, for the most part, doesn't want to be regulated in so many ways, but says it would welcome regulation to say that 90 milligrams would be a safe amount. They would like to reinforce the people that they can take 90 milligrams, but don't regulate any more than that.

HEMMER: Thank you, doctor. Sanjay Gupta at the CNN Center.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired February 27, 2003 - 08:43   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: We are paging Dr. Sanjay Gupta right now about one of today's most controversial health issues. It's ephedra. Baltimore Orioles pitcher Steve Bechler died a bit earlier this month a day after suffering trouble during a spring training program. He's working out there during the baseball season right now, and a medical examiner says ephedra did contribute to his death.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta back with some answers to talk about ephedra, what we need to know about this.

Sanjay, good morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Bill.

It's a huge industry, the diet supplementary industry. The herbal supplementary issue is about a $40 billion industry, and if you look at diet supplements, that's a huge chunk of it. Ephedra is a product that's been out there for quite sometime, comes from a herb known as ma-huang (ph), and it's actually found in a whole host of different supplements. People oftentimes just now the brand names, but sometimes, they'll know that ephedra is actually located in Metab- o-lite, Rip fuel (ph), Diet Fuel (ph).

You can take a look at the whole long list of things there.

The most amazing thing, Bill, and I think the thing that is so controversial is that anybody can really walk into these stores, diet stores or any store really, and buy these supplements. It's a largely unregulated industry, and that's concerning, because it has been linked, associated with deaths; it has been associated with adverse effects.

Let me make a point about the regulation. When the FDA decides to regulate a drug, that means the makers of the drug have to prove that it's safe before it goes to market. If it's unregulated drug, or herb in this case, then the makers only -- it only has to be proven that it's unsafe after it's already on the market. You can already see the shift there.

I mentioned death, adverse effects. All the different sorts of adverse effects that ephedra has been linked to are significant. Take a look at the list there, again, high-blood pressure insomnia, nervousness, tremors, headaches, a long list of things.

Bill, Finally, a lot of people who take these dietary supplements oftentimes do have weight problems already, and already have some of these problems with their heart with things like that already, so if you're actually exacerbating that by taking a herb like ephedra, that can just worsen the problem.

HEMMER: Quick medical lesson. Give us a basic idea here for what the impact is on the body. You list a number of things there, blood pressure, etc., but what is the effect?

GUPTA: Why does it work? That's the question about ephedra that I get asked a lot. If you look at it, it's what is known as a thermogenic aid. The name's not that important, but basically, what it does, it boosts your metabolism. It actually creates heat, and sometimes, that heat is actually used to burn fat.

As a consequence of that, you get a lot of those adverse effects that we just saw, again, increased heart rate, increased blood pressure, but that's basically how it works.

Bill, another thing about it is the ephedra industry has been very vocal about this as well. It's a huge industry. What they say is that 90 milligrams a day is safe. If you take 90 milligrams a day, no more, you shouldn't get into any trouble. They claim the people end up getting into trouble, having those adverse effects, are people that are taking too much, people that are popping the Metab-o-lite pills too frequently -- Bill.

HEMMER: Well, listen, we have heard a number of efforts against it. Are they winning right now, those who oppose ephedra? Where does that lie right now?

GUPTA: There is a lot of opposition to it. The NCAA, the NFL, the International Olympic Committee. The AMA has asked that it be looked into it more closely. A county in the New York wants to ban the sale of ephedra. So there is a lot of opposition to ephedra.

Ephedra, the industry, sort of interestingly, for the most part, doesn't want to be regulated in so many ways, but says it would welcome regulation to say that 90 milligrams would be a safe amount. They would like to reinforce the people that they can take 90 milligrams, but don't regulate any more than that.

HEMMER: Thank you, doctor. Sanjay Gupta at the CNN Center.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com