Ephedra is known for its short yet wild ride it had in the weight loss arena. What many people think they know but are actually mislead on is that Ephedra has a much safer record than represented by the so-called authorities that impose bans and restrictions on the once most powerful weight loss supplement to ever hit the market.

As with anything you consume, anyone participating in a diet that includes Ephedra you should be very careful to follow directions properly and pay close attention to your bodies tolerance to what you are consuming. Ephedra increases blood pressure, so obviously anyone with high blood pressure should take extra caution or completely avoid Ephedra all together.

The truth about Ephedra is that there are several claims of death blamed on Ephedra, but with reverence and care of those that have experienced this rare and unfortunate outcome, I would like to state that it truly is RARE to die from using Ephedra unless you have serious heart problems and/or take entirely to much Ephedra. By the way, the original safe consumption amount of Ephedra was no more than 100mg in 24 hours and was later changed to no more than 10mg per serving and agreed on by the FDA. There are less than 1,000 deaths blamed on Ephedra over the years it has been used. You and I both say 1,000 deaths is to many, but let’s look at some statistics to put this number into perspective.

Approximately 800 out of every 100,000 people die every year in the United States from various causes. Well over 100,000 people wer taking ephedra at any given time in the prime of the Ephedra era.

Risk of death from automobile accidents: 1 in 100

Risk of death from homicide: 1 in 300

Risk of death from firearms accident: 1 in 2,000

Risk of death from electrocution: 1 in 5,000

Risk of death from asteroid impact: 1 in 20,000

Risk of death from airplane crash: 1 in 20,000

Risk of death from tornadoes: 1 in 50,000

Risk of death from fireworks: 1 in 1,000,000

Risk of death from botulism; 1 in 2,000,000

Risk of death from ephedra: 1 in 15,000,000

In 2004, a total of 2,397,615 deaths occurred in the United States.

1. Diseases of heart (heart disease)
   
   
2. Malignant neoplasms (cancer)
   
   
3. Cerebrovascular diseases (stroke)
   
   
4. Chronic lower respiratory diseases
   
   
5. Accidents (unintentional injuries)
   
   
6. Diabetes mellitus
   
   
7. Alzheimer’s disease
   
   
8. Influenza and pneumonia
   
   
9. Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome and nephrosis (kidney disease)
   
   
10. Septicemia

Ephedra is nowhere near the top ten. As a matter of fact, the following is a quote from October 2003 Death by Medicine, a study performed by medical licensed professionals.

A definitive review and close reading of medical peer-review journals, and government health statistics shows that American medicine frequently causes more harm than good. The number of people having in-hospital, adverse drug reactions (ADR) to prescribed medicine is 2.2 million. Dr. Richard Besser, of the CDC, in 1995, said the number of unnecessary antibiotics prescribed annually for viral infections was 20 million. Dr. Besser, in 2003, now refers to tens of millions of unnecessary antibiotics. The number of unnecessary medical and surgical procedures performed annually is 7.5 million. The number of people exposed to unnecessary hospitalization annually is 8.9 million. The total number of iatrogenic deaths shown in the following table is 783,936. It is evident that the American medical system is the leading cause of death and injury in the United States. The 2001 heart disease annual death rate is 699,697; the annual cancer death rate, 553,251.

As you can see, the risk of ephedra has been greatly over stated. If you are looking for Ephedra, just go to www.11cents.com/Ephedra