Narcotic active additives
Lose weight with amphetamines, or what can be found in weight loss drugs
Kirill Stasevich, Compulenta
Dietary supplements taken to reduce weight and tame appetite may contain substances that will never be mentioned in advertising. So, supposedly natural preparations based on the Acacia rigidula plant contain a substance similar in structure and action to the drug amphetamine, and this component is present in them in very noticeable quantities.
The ill-fated Acacia rigidula (photo by Sabinal Sandman).There are countless ways to reduce weight and appetite, but do their consumers know what is contained in such supplements?
For example, there are drugs that include an extract of the Texas shrub Acacia rigidula, which helps to restrain appetite and has fat-burning properties. If you believe what is written on their labels, the extract contains only natural ingredients. Meanwhile, 9 out of 21 drugs with A.rigidula, as the Food and Drug Administration (USA) found out, are endowed with a synthetic component called beta-methylphenethylamine.
This substance is similar in structure to amphetamine and acts the same way. However, it was tested only on animals. The way people perceive it has not been directly tested, but there is every reason to believe that beta-methylphenethylamine acts on us in the same narcotic way.
In addition, many dietary supplements, which, according to the manufacturer, contained A.rigidula, in composition did not correspond in any way to the balance of substances that could be found in the plant. For example, there is little phenethylamine in A.rigidula, but it was found in abundance in dietary supplements. But this means that the drug is not made on a plant extract, otherwise the content of phenylethylamine in it would be very small. That is, there is no need to talk about "naturalness" (since naturalness also implies natural proportions of components).
And the amphetamine relative beta-methylphenethylamine itself is found in these drugs in such quantities that it would be difficult to consider it a by-product. That is, most likely, this compound was specially poured into a dietary supplement. There is some sense in this: amphetamines enhance energy metabolism, and they could well be used for weight loss, if not for the well-known side effects, including the development of addiction, and an increased risk of stroke. (By the way, recently amphetamine-like compounds were found in the Craze supplement, which is consumed before sports.)
Finally, this plant itself, A.rigidula, has never been used in herbal remedies. That is, its beneficial properties can be learned at best from unsystematic and unconfirmed evidence – and, of course, from the brochure of the manufacturer of dietary supplements.
The situation is very reminiscent of the recent history of traditional Chinese medicine medicines, in which you can find many components that are useless at best, and at worst – simply harmful. Well, although "The West is the West, the East is the East, and they cannot come together," there is one thing that undoubtedly unites us. This is a passion for shameless profit.
The results of the study are published in the Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis (Pawar et al., Determination of selected biogenic amines in Acacia rigidula plant materials and dietary supplements using LC-MS/MS methods).
Prepared based on the materials of LiveScience: Some Weight Loss Supplements Contain Amphetamine-Like Compound.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru21.11.2013