What is Citrus aurantium or Synephrine? Are legal diet products not better than obesity?

Since July last year all ephidrine products are banned in SA (or effectively schedule 6).
I've actually seen people who used to take ephidrine based diet pills growing fatter, and the whole country has a problem with obesity.
They say pre-diabetes and other fat related maladies are reaching epidemic proportions.
We will live shorter lives than our parents according to statistics because of obesity related diseases.

So I'm wondering why they banned diet pills with pseudoephidrine, and maybe it's better to bring them back?

Well, I took something totally legal called Synephrine (mixed with green tea and other herbs).
Not sure what it is, but it's legal in most places.
In the US it has an age restriction of 18, and I just read it's not really safe!

Could somebody enlighten me more?

reply to post by halfoldman

Oh my hat!
Wikipedia makes it sound as if it's cyanide:
en.wikipedia.org...
Isn't it strange how one thing is banned, and another thing (probably even more harmful?) appears on the shelves.
I see that body-builders take the stuff twice a day.
Not sure if it shows up in performance enhancing drug tests.

We just had the case of a former 36-year-old former child star dropping dead from a heart attack on the beach.
www.channel24.co.za...
I wonder if stuff like Synephrine, ginseng and caffeine are involved, or whether some people are fated to die young.

If any diet pill or herbal remedy truly worked, you would know it by the millions of testimonies. The only safe and healthy way to lose weight is to have a balanced diet of lean meats, protein, whole grains, fruits and veggies. And think of it not as a diet, but a way of life. Make good choices. Be aware of everything you put into your mouth, even if you are nibbling here and there, it adds up.

reply to post by Night Star

I'm just reading a book: Fat-burner Foods: Eat yourself slimmer in 14 days (Dr. Caroline M. Shreeve: 2002).
Interesting and lots of nice recipes.
But a lot of the fish mentioned is on the "red list" (unavailable or prohibitively expensive, or has mercury warnings).
Some family members of mine are eating lots of red pepper (also in the book as "fat burning").
But we've had recent scandals in SA where red spices where dyed with a cancer-causing substance called "Sudan-red".
Everybody take note!:
en.wikipedia.org...
So I'm urging caution with health fads.

reply to post by halfoldman

The press has been full of of rugby stars and other athletes who tested positive for stimulants.
What struck me is that these substances are found in food and meat.
So everybody who eats non-organic pork is getting a minute dose of ephedrine.

Doesn't that bother meat-eaters?

You can buy ephedrine at ANY pharmacy in the USA. It is just labeled as an asthma drug called Primatene. You have to ask for it behind the counter though

www.drugs.com...

reply to post by mnmcandiez

Pseudoephidrine is only available on prescription now.
I think the real reason was not the diet products, but the horrific meth epidemic (or as we call it here: "Tik").
One can still get pseudoephidrine here over the counter in mixed products, like sinus medications with a low dosage and a high amount of paracetamol.

It's just strange that one bad habit is reduced and replaced by another.

I just wonder if one can lessen obesity with pills and potions.
We were heavily marketed an indigenous herb called "Hoodia" for appetitie control without side-effects.
However it appears to be somewhat of a scam.

Synephrine, or aspirin was originaly added to the caffeine/ephedrine stack because it had a synergistic effect, .... meaning you could get greater results with less stimulants.

In my opinion, ... the ECA stack was one of the greatest fat loss tools available to mankind. But was not in itself a means to weight loss, ... it only amplified ones own metabolism and pathways to fatloss.

you can still buy them online, it's not very hard, ... and its well worth it if you use them responsibily.

They were taken off the shelves because people were abusing them, ... or working themselves out to exhaustion or death. i.e. = wrestlers trying to cut weight.

They were also dangerous if used incorrectly, ... for instance if you pig out and then take ephedrine to offset the extra calories, ..... what people dont know is, ... when you do this, ephedrine can accumulate in fat tissue, ... so one far off day, if you take alot of ephedrine and are burning fat, ... it could result in an unexpected overdose ... stroke/heart attack.

reply to post by IntastellaBurst

Thanks for that.
I heard that ephidrine, aspirin and caffeine were once popular gym combinations.
I'm also quite surprised that ephidrine is still legal in the USA.

But are you sure synephrine is aspirin?
I thought it was some herbal "bitter orange" supplement, but it's new in SA (hence my query).

I'd be very surprised if it's just aspirin.

reply to post by halfoldman


oh .... no.

They are not the same thing, ....

Aspirin was the original part of the ECA stack. ephedrine/caffeine/aspirin. and indeed these had to be taken seperately when first discovered.

However as time went on, synephrine replaced aspirin, .... and companies mixed the stack for consumers in the proper ratio.

As undeveloped as SA is considered, I'm jealous that it isn't completely run by sociopathic, zealous capitalists like the "developed" countries. The people we all pay to be out for our best health interests over here only ban natural things that are good for us because they can't make money off of them and it is mandatory for them to monopolize the heathcare market because it's something everyone will need in their lives and only they are allowed to make money off of that.

GEE I WONDER WHERE THIS RECESSION CAME FROM.



We're F*d.

The day the FDA disapproves something because it has unsafe side-effects is the day they release the proven cancer cures that they cannot patent and make money off of. This capitalism works sooooo well , right, constitution fundamentalists?

This is why I think it's so hilarious that American's are so militantly against communism or socialism as if this works better than it . Capitalist democracies leave doors open for politicians and large corporations to literally kill people for a profit so that they can sit in a $3 million bean bag chair watching MTV while their wife gets her 17th boob job, regardless of how many people on this planet starved to death in the time it took me to write this post, that is the "American dream". Greed.

reply to post by halfoldman


No you can get ephedrine at any pharmacy.
The brand name of it is called Primatene, I buy it myself.

The main active ingredients are.12.5 mg of EPHEDRINE. NOT PSEUDO-EPHEDRINE.

"Active Ingredients: Ephedrine HCl (USP 12.5 mg) (Bronchodilator), Guaifenesin (USP 200mg) (Expectorant)"



www.drugstore.com...