Are Natural Ingredients Safe?
Let’s face facts, most natural substances or prescriptions that are banned are banned because celebrities had bad experiences with them. Hundreds of common consumers could suffer serious side effects or even die, and because they’ve been around for so long or because they’re hot now, we would not say anything. But the minute something happens to a celebrity, it gains immediate attention and everybody freaks out, whether they were combining that with other drugs or it was actually because of the substance itself. This is actually part of the reason why the ban on ephedrine was, at least in part, lifted. They decided the original ruling was unfair, but still restricted it to only a small amount.
The interesting thing is that many of these ingredients have been considered to be “Asian”, or at least advertising has hyped them up to be. Many, like ephedrine for example, have been used for hundreds if not thousands of years by Chinese people without any serious side effects, without massive death tolls, without seriously reported problems. Why? Some would say because the average American consumer simply thinks that more is always better! We take a good thing, and we use and abuse it.
So what about ingredients like ephedrine?
Even after its ban, and even after it was originally brought back, many have found that there are still problems with ephedrine. It was originally meant to be used for asthma actually, and it was used quite successfully. Yes, it was recognized that there were some risks. But they were using extremely small amounts, such as the now legally allowed 30mg. And they were using it only for that medical condition. They also use steroids for the same given problem. But most Chinese people, let’s be honest, have not traditionally taken even 30mg of ephedrine at any given time. And they have not traditionally taken it consistently over months or even years of time! With small and occasional use, chances are it does no damage. But obviously, when we abuse it in amounts such as 250mg, especially when many are taking more than the recommended dose every day, it can be extremely damaging. And likewise, even 30mg taken regularly can be quite damaging, though nobody can be sure how much abuse is going on.
What About Fen-Phen?
A common misconception about fen-phen is the idea that it is a “natural” product. This shouldn’t even be considered such. Yes, it was sold on the over the counter market. But realistically, fen-phen combined prescription Phentermine and Fenfluramine. Neither of these were ever meant to be over the counter products! In fact, fenfluramine was not even popular on its own, because it was only ever proven to produce extremely small benefits. But when this combination was proven to show the side effects we already knew to be present with the prescription forms, it was withdrawn.
Conclusion
The large majority of natural substances are rather innocuous and safe when used correctly. Anything can be toxic when used in the wrong amounts and when abused! Even something as simple as caffeine could actually become deadly when used in certain amounts. Most will never even come close to reaching those amounts, and with the recommended dosage, there is no diet pill that even comes close. But despite these examples that have been misrepresented in the past, much like anabolic steroids, natural ingredients for the most part are relatively safe. And I wouldn’t even consider some of the more dangerous options to be “natural”, especially one of the biggest controversies mentioned before, fen phen.