More than two years after regulators found an amphetamine-like substance in nearly a dozen supplements marketed for aiding workout and weight loss, a new study has found that pills containing the chemical are still on the market.
The study, published Tuesday in the journal “Drug Testing and Analysis,” analyzed 21 supplements labelled as containing Acacia rigidula, a type of shrub native to Texas. Eleven of them were found to contain beta-methylphenylethylamine, or BMPEA, an isomer of amphetamine whose effect on humans has never been studied.
The Food and Drug Administration reported similar findings two years ago, in a little-publicized study published in the Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis.
In a statement to Reuters, FDA spokeswoman said the agency’s review of products containing BMPEA “does not identify a specific safety concern at this time.” She added that ensuring supplement safety is their “first priority” and that the agency will consider taking regulatory action, if appropriate.
But Roy Gerona, a clinical chemist at University of California-San Francisco and a co-author of the study, said that it was dangerous for the FDA not to inform consumers about BMPEA, which bears a close resemblance to the powerful stimulant amphetamine. Though the effects of BMPEA aren’t known, other amphetamine stimulants are known to increase blood pressure, cause cardiovascular complications, suppress sleep and appetite and can be addictive.
Only three of the supplements in which the chemical was found indicated its presence on their labels, and none of them specified the amount of BMPEA in each pill, according to the study.
“When you’re taking these products you don’t know if they contain this compound, you don’t know the toxic effect and if it’s there you don’t know the amount at which you could potentially overdose,” Gerona said in a phone interview. “… It’s worrying that there hasn’t been any announcement.”
The study recommends that the FDA recall all products found to contain BMPEA and that the chemical be eliminated from other dietary supplements.