Ephedra Back on the MarketWritten by Sharon Hardy
April 14, 2005, federal judge Tena Campbell of Utah federal district court reversed ban on ephedra.Ephedra is a herb used over 5000 years ago to treat several disorders, such as asthma and bronchitis. Because ephedra has ability to increase metabolism,and burn fat it became a popular ingredient used in diet pills. About 12 to 17 million people consumed ephedra in 1999, reports Americian Herbal Products Association. The Nutrition Business Journal estimated that sales of ephedra in 2002 were $1.25 billion Ephedra is so powerful its safety was questioned FDA removed ephedra also known by its chinese name Ma-huang from market in April 2004 claiming that it was responsible for dozens of deaths. Judge Campbell states that drug agencies had failed to prove that ephedra at low doses was dangerous, and that it lacked authority to ban substance without such proof. She called for FDA to lift ban on ephedra.
| | Dropping The Carbs - The Pro's and Cons of Ketogenic Dieting Part 1Written by Andrew Langhorn
Dropping The Carbs? The Pro's and Cons of Ketogenic Dieting Author: Andrew Langhorn We must all now be familiar with Atkins Diet. Of all of ‘trend’ diets that move through our popular culture, none has caused as much interest or controversy. Put forward by late Dr. Robert Atkins in 70’s, diet that has caused a storm is continuing to acquire both dedicated followers and severe opponents both within and without medical community. The Atkins diet itself is only most popular of an approach usually called low-carb diets because of primary interest in restricting consumption of Carbohydrates. Since entire spectrum of our food is drawn from proteins, fats, carbohydrates or water, severe restriction of one group is seen by many as an arbitrary and possibly even dangerous step. Most of controversy surrounding low-carb approaches is not that they lie about weight-loss (studies continue to show marked weight-loss in many who use diets) but disturbing possibility that cutting carbs out of your diet just isn’t healthy. After all, what good is a diet that slims you down only to clog up your arteries and kill you? We’ve heard many arguments both for and against use of low-carbohydrate diets, this article asks a radical question: Can going Low-Carb actually be healthy? WHY SHOULD I LIMIT SUGAR & GRAINS? The first and most obvious carbohydrate group and one we rarely have much argument about reducing is sugar. Sugar is a catch all term for a number of simple carbohydrates including fructose (fruit sugar), Galactose (milk sugar), sucrose (table sugar) and glucose (simple sugars such as blood sugar). Sugar consumption has been on increase for decades and, despite numerous campaigns against saturated fats, is certainly biggest contributing factor to increasing obesity epidemic. Eating sugar causes a number of physiological effects in body. The most striking of these is sudden and marked increase in blood insulin. Insulin is hormone in our body responsible for ‘taxiing’ food broken down in out stomach to various parts of our body that require these substances, although it has numerous uses. First, and most importantly, sugar, as glucose levels in out blood is extremely toxic. Left in our bloodstream without control elevated sugar levels would kill us quickly, so powerful release of insulin helps keep our blood cleared of excess glucose. Unfortunately insulin is a double-edged sword. Excess sugar in our body cannot be disposed of in an unlimited number of ways. With our increasing sedentary lifestyles refusing to burn off much of this sudden and quick release of carbohydrate as we consume, sugar is rapidly converted to same saturated fats we are constantly warned about. (As you can see, limiting saturated fat in diet does not prevent us from accumulating fat in our bodies) Sugar has other unpleasant side effects. The constantly elevated insulin levels can eventually lead to decreased insulin sensitivity (Syndrome X) and another case of Type II diabetes. Sugar also has an effect on cortisol and our adrenal glands. It causes an excess of these hormones leading to symptoms of stress and fatigue. Sugar also competes with glucose carriers in our blood, which work with vitamins like Vitamin C, causing disruption to our preciously balanced immune system and causing premature ageing of skin.
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