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Daily Dose: Ephedra and Caffeine Shouldn't Mix, But in Many Pill They Do
Aired December 09, 2003 - 11:49 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: In our "Daily Dose," a possibly dangerous combination: ephedra and caffeine. Combining the two drugs isn't allowed in over the counter medicines because of potential health risk. But "Consumer Reports" recently found that very combination in a number of supplements.
Ronnie Sandroff is health editor for "consumer Reports" magazine and she is with us this morning from New York. Ronnie, good morning.
RONNIE SANDROFF, "CONSUMER REPORTS": Good morning.
KAGAN: You look at these labels, some of the products you can buy in the health food stores. And first of all, your eyes cross and sometimes you can't even see what's in them. So I want to get to specific products so you can tell us what we need to look for.
With this type of product here, Metabolife, here you go, it does say if you look very carefully on the back here it does have ephedra in it. It will tell you "ephedrine group alkaloid."
SANDROFF: Right. That's a widely sold product for weight loss. And there have been over 14,000 complaints of adverse reactions, including quite a number of deaths to that product. And the company actually withheld those adverse event reports from the FDA.
KAGAN: There's one you can see even in gas stations or mini markets, Yellow Jackets, it's an energy boosting supplement.
SANDROFF: Yes, I think consumers are not sure what that is. There's a lot of these energy boosters sold. Some of them are packaged and seem to be aimed at the teen and young adult market. And they contain ephedra often combined with caffeine. And that can speed up your heart, raise your blood pressure and cause a lot of problems.
KAGAN: So then some consumers might think they have found the answer with something clearly labeled like this product here, I think it's called Xenadrine. It says underneath it that it is ephedrine free. So why wouldn't that be safe?
SANDROFF: Well, the ephedra free products usually contain bitter orange and green tea extract. Sometimes combined, sometimes separately. And also may contain caffeine.
These are also stimulants. They have not been shown to be safe. They're scant evidence they can help you lose weight. And so we don't recommend those either. KAGAN: On the opposite end of the spectrum, forget about losing weight or not, why is it so dangerous in these products that make these combinations?
SANDROFF: Well, they can cause heart problems, dysrhythmias, high blood pressure, and many different adverse events.
KAGAN: Let's go to right to the consumer part of "Consumer Reports." That is, because a lot of these get renamed and they have different type of labeling, how do you know what is safe to buy?
SANDROFF: Well we recommend against anything that's labeled as a weight loss product or an energy booster because these products have not been shown to be safe or effective.
KAGAN: I'm sorry, one more time?
SANDROFF: None of these products have been shown to be safe, even for healthy people.
KAGAN: So don't even buy them, is what you're saying.
SANDROFF: That's what we say. You should avoid them and warn children and teenagers about them too.
KAGAN: And so the problem isn't necessarily what's in our pill, it's our society that want it is to be able to take a pill and lose weight instead of doing the hard work or counting your calories and doing the exercise.
SANDROFF: Ephedra products have been banned in three states so far, in Illinois and New York and California. And we'd like to see a ban on the federal leave level as well.
KAGAN: Buyer beware. Ronnie Sandroff with "Consumer Reports." Thanks for the information. Appreciate it.
SANDROFF: Thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Many Pill They Do>
Aired December 9, 2003 - 11:49 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: In our "Daily Dose," a possibly dangerous combination: ephedra and caffeine. Combining the two drugs isn't allowed in over the counter medicines because of potential health risk. But "Consumer Reports" recently found that very combination in a number of supplements.
Ronnie Sandroff is health editor for "consumer Reports" magazine and she is with us this morning from New York. Ronnie, good morning.
RONNIE SANDROFF, "CONSUMER REPORTS": Good morning.
KAGAN: You look at these labels, some of the products you can buy in the health food stores. And first of all, your eyes cross and sometimes you can't even see what's in them. So I want to get to specific products so you can tell us what we need to look for.
With this type of product here, Metabolife, here you go, it does say if you look very carefully on the back here it does have ephedra in it. It will tell you "ephedrine group alkaloid."
SANDROFF: Right. That's a widely sold product for weight loss. And there have been over 14,000 complaints of adverse reactions, including quite a number of deaths to that product. And the company actually withheld those adverse event reports from the FDA.
KAGAN: There's one you can see even in gas stations or mini markets, Yellow Jackets, it's an energy boosting supplement.
SANDROFF: Yes, I think consumers are not sure what that is. There's a lot of these energy boosters sold. Some of them are packaged and seem to be aimed at the teen and young adult market. And they contain ephedra often combined with caffeine. And that can speed up your heart, raise your blood pressure and cause a lot of problems.
KAGAN: So then some consumers might think they have found the answer with something clearly labeled like this product here, I think it's called Xenadrine. It says underneath it that it is ephedrine free. So why wouldn't that be safe?
SANDROFF: Well, the ephedra free products usually contain bitter orange and green tea extract. Sometimes combined, sometimes separately. And also may contain caffeine.
These are also stimulants. They have not been shown to be safe. They're scant evidence they can help you lose weight. And so we don't recommend those either. KAGAN: On the opposite end of the spectrum, forget about losing weight or not, why is it so dangerous in these products that make these combinations?
SANDROFF: Well, they can cause heart problems, dysrhythmias, high blood pressure, and many different adverse events.
KAGAN: Let's go to right to the consumer part of "Consumer Reports." That is, because a lot of these get renamed and they have different type of labeling, how do you know what is safe to buy?
SANDROFF: Well we recommend against anything that's labeled as a weight loss product or an energy booster because these products have not been shown to be safe or effective.
KAGAN: I'm sorry, one more time?
SANDROFF: None of these products have been shown to be safe, even for healthy people.
KAGAN: So don't even buy them, is what you're saying.
SANDROFF: That's what we say. You should avoid them and warn children and teenagers about them too.
KAGAN: And so the problem isn't necessarily what's in our pill, it's our society that want it is to be able to take a pill and lose weight instead of doing the hard work or counting your calories and doing the exercise.
SANDROFF: Ephedra products have been banned in three states so far, in Illinois and New York and California. And we'd like to see a ban on the federal leave level as well.
KAGAN: Buyer beware. Ronnie Sandroff with "Consumer Reports." Thanks for the information. Appreciate it.
SANDROFF: Thank you very much.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Many Pill They Do>
