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Many Hydroxycut products had ephedra as an ingredient before April 2004, when the FDA banned all supplements containing ephedra from the U.S. market. Ephedra — also known as "ma huang," a plant from China — is the name used for a plant or herb that contains ephedrine, a drug strictly regulated by the FDA.

Ephedra was in Hydroxycut products marketed as "weight loss" and "energy boosting" aids by MuscleTech and other companies. Its effects were claimed to be similar to (but much more powerful than) those of caffeine.

Hydroxycut: Now Ephedra-Free

Hydroxycut's original products contained ephedra as just one of their dozens of ingredients used to "cleanse" the body, "increase the body's metabolic rate," "improve athletic performance," and "burn fat." The products' striking array of ingredients seems more like a "kitchen sink" of herbs and chemicals designed to impress — with the usual inclusion of common items like green tea and more exotic elements such as 'garcinia cambogia' — but ephedra was eventually stricken from all the Hydroxycut product ingredients list, for good reason:

A study published in 2003 showed evidence of over 16,000 separate adverse events linked to ephedra-containing supplements, such as:

• tremors
• heart palpitations
• insomnia

The same study also showed that ephedra does not aid weight loss in Hydroxycut or boost a user's level of physical activity, as the makers of Hydroxycut and similar products had claimed.

The FDA's View of Hydroxycut and Ephedra

On May 1, 2009, the FDA issued a Public Advisory warning consumers to stop using 14 of Hydroxycut's products — immediately — because of their risk of inducing severe liver injury (even though all Hydroxycut products are now ephedra-free). The reported Hydroxycut liver injuries occurred even when the users had taken no more than the recommended Hydroxycut regimen.

The FDA also described other very serious medical events experienced by Hydroxycut users, including:

• seizures
• rhabdomyolysis (a type of muscle damage)
• cardiovascular problems ranging in severity from an irregular heart beat to heart attack

In fact, the FDA recommends that "all people stop using Hydroxycut weight loss products."

If You've Been Harmed by a Hydroxycut Product

If a Hydroxycut product has caused you or your loved one a serious injury, consult a Hydroxycut lawyer for help.