This is a new section consisting of some very good questions and their answers as fielded by the ISSA technical support team over the past two weeks. ENJOY!


Dear ProTrainer:

I am taking a product to achieve weight loss. It is called MD6, made by Biotest. The active ingredients are l-tyrosine, alpha lipoic acid, caffeine, l-norephedrine hci, guggulsterones, and yohimbine hci.... I have noticed an aching flank type sensation when I take it and I have noticed a diuretic effect.. I had a negative result for blood in my urine-and the mild ache is not bad enough to send me to the doc. I have no pain when smacked on my kidney either. I want to keep taking this product, but don't want permanent damage either.... It says don't take it if you have kidney disease. Do you happen to know if such a product could do damage? I am 46, and 15 to 20 pounds overweight. Any thoughts?


Tyrosine:

This one is a little scary, but probably not causing your kidney pain (although you never know). The deal is that this amino acid has been shown to increase the levels of catecholamines in the brain. This includes adrenaline and dopamine. Of primary importance is the dopamine increase. One, this is shown to be of benefit to people with Parkinson's disease, characterized by low levels of dopamine in the brain. There is a small amount of evidence that tyrosine may help with depression, by its effect in increasing norepinephrine. This compound is not likely to do much for weight loss.

There is still very much research needed into this amino acid. Long-term use has not been studied, and the FDA will not classify tyrosine as an approved drug (because drugs have tighter controls than dietary aids). In addition, purity has been a problem with tyrosine, so it is difficult to know just what, and how much, you are really getting.

Alpha Lipoic Acid:

It is a bit strange to me that this compound would be in a weight loss supplement, because it does not have any known weight loss effects. It appears to be an antioxidant that helps in the regeneration of vitamin C. It may have a role in the alleviation of symptoms and prevention of certain diseases, but nothing to speed up the metabolism. Just like most of these others, there have not been enough studies to guarantee safety, especially during pregnancy. One of the reported side effects is allergic skin conditions. Nothing has been reported on kidney trouble with this compound.

Ephedrine and Caffeine:

Caffeine is an easy one. Caffeine is needed to make the ephedrine effective. I am not sure if anybody knows why, but it appears that ephedrine is only effective when combined with caffeine. Also, caffeine by itself is a great fat burner. During aerobic exercise, caffeine increases the use of fatty acids for fuel, and spares the use of carbohydrates. Because the availability of carbohydrates is probably the biggest limiting factor to aerobic endurance, this carbohydrate sparing effect can increase aerobic endurance. Also, caffeine is a diuretic that blocks Anti-diuretic hormone. This causes the kidneys to excrete more fluid, and produce more urine. It would make more sense that THIS would irritate your kidneys, but only your physician would know for sure.

The drug Ephedrine, which is the main constituent of the herb Ma-huang, is a major ingredient in many weight loss nutritional supplements on the market today. Ephedrine speeds up the metabolism by stimulating the release of adrenaline in the body. Adrenaline stimulates the release of glucose from the liver and free fatty acids from the body's fat stores, increasing the availability and use of both glucose and fat for ATP production.

Ephedrine use can have horrible, often deadly, side effects. The FDA has received over 1400 reports of adverse side effects associated with ephedrine use. Medical problems have ranged from high blood pressure, irregular heart rate, insomnia, nervousness, tremors and headaches, to seizures, heart attacks, strokes and death.


Guggulsterone:

I was not all that excited about the information I found on this herb. From what I could see, the herb possibly works in stimulating the thyroid gland, increasing the amount of Thyroxine hormone in the body. This would speed up the metabolism. It also may lower cholesterol.

The problem is, as with many of these herbs, that they are not really studied enough to prove that they really work, and that they are safe. I don't think anybody could say that this herb is safe to take, especially for long-term use. It does appear that this supplement may work to some extent, but the side effects could be anything. I do not see any obvious link to your kidney pain with this supplement, however, but that does not mean there is no link.

Yohimbine:

Again, this is another herb that does not appear to be extensively studied. The few studies that I DID find were at least from credible sources. It appears that yohimbine raises the metabolism through increasing the release of norepinephrine, one of the adrenal hormones. Three of the four studies that I saw showed that this product did have a weight loss effect. As with most of the others, long term use and side effects are not studies, so who knows what this product may do to you or your kidneys. It appears that this herb, along with the ephedrine/caffeine combo, is the most likely to produce weight loss effects.


It is sad to me that in this country there is so little regulation on dietary aids. Not to say that this product could not help a person lose weight, because as I said, many of these ingredients have shown to aid in weight loss. The problem is in safety, and long term effects. None of the studies that showed initial weight loss effects followed the subjects for a long period of time, so it is not known if any weight loss effects lasted, or what happened to the health of the subjects. In addition, with many of these products, even short-term use could be dangerous, as the research (and your kidneys) will tell you. The ISSA has, and always will, recommend that you stay away from herbal weight loss dietary aids and instead focus on proper diet and exercise to ensure safe and long-lasting results. If you are deciding if a weight loss aid is right for you, or are having complications from current use of a weight loss aid, please see your physician.