New research recently specified that a prohibited World War II experimental stimulant drug is showing up in sports and weight loss supplements being sold today.
ScienceAlert said that the stimulant called phenpromethamine was last sold in a nasal inhaler form, also known as Vonedrine during the 1940s and 1950s.
However, the study which the Clinical Toxicology journal published, said the drug has been withdrawn from the market and it has never been authorized for oral use decades ago (Nine prohibited stimulants found in sports and weight loss supplements: deterenol, phenpromethamine (Vonedrine), oxilofrine, octodrine, beta-methylphenylethylamine (BMPEA), 1,3-dimethylamylamine (1,3-DMAA), 1,4-dimethylamylamine (1,4-DMAA), 1,3-dimethylbutylamine (1,3-DMBA) and higenamine).
The drug,indicated the report, is also banned from competitive sports by the World Anti-Doping Agency. This new research appears to be a pioneer in verifying the presence of phenpromethamine in weight loss supplements.
On top of the phenpromethamine, the research identified eight other prohibited stimulant drugs in sports and weight loss supplements, which were frequently mixed together in different combinations to produce 'cocktails of stimulants that have been examined in people, explained the authors.
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New research recently specified that a prohibited World War II experimental stimulant drug is showing up in sports and weight loss supplements being sold today.
Shocking Discovery
According to general internist Dr. Pieter Cohen, from the Cambridge Health Alliance, the result is really surprising. The doctor, who's also a Harvard Medical School associate professor added, finding nine different experimental banned stimulant drugs at the same time was indeed shocking.
The study investigators discovered as many as four different stimulants in one supplement. They also noted the dangers of taking these stimulant combinations remain unknown, and such stimulants are not always included in the product labels.
In addition, the authors added that the FDA would warn consumers about the existence of cocktails of experimental stimulants in weight loss and sports supplements, and take instant effective action to take out these stimulants from the market.
Banned Stimulants
The study authors started their investigation searching not for phenpromethamine, but for a different stimulant identified as deterenol.
European studies had shown that supplements with deterenol along with other stimulants were associated with harmful effects in people. Such impacts include vomiting, nausea, cardiac arrest, chest pain, and even sudden death.
As specified in this report, deterenol has been authorized for use in the US and in 2004, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ruled that the stimulant was not authorized in dietary supplements.
For this particular research, the authors analyzed around 17 brands of supplements sold in the US that were labeled as having deterenol, or any term synonymous to the drug.
The researchers found deterenol in 13 of the 17 supplements. The next most commonly detected stimulant was phenpromethamine, present in four of the 17 brands.
Other WWII Drug Stimulants Found in Dietary Supplements
The authors said that phenpromethamine is not the first WWII-era stimulant found to show up in dietary supplements.
In the early 2000s, the study investigators explained, after the FDA banned ephedra, a stimulant from dietary supplements, manufacturers began to add other experimental stimulants which included, 1,3-DMAA, which was then marketed in the late 1940s as a nasal inhaler.
The FDA has since banned the said stimulant from supplements and has issued warnings that it may cause increased risks for heart ailments.
As soon as the FDA cautions about a stimulant, new ones tend to appear, said Cohen. So far, the study said, the department has not issued any warning to consumers about phenpromethamine.
Furthermore, researchers at the FDA recently identified deterenol in supplements, having their findings published in the Drug Testing and Analysis journal in 2020.
A related report about the banned stimulant drug in weight-loss supplements is shown on MultiVu's Youtube video below:
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