March 10, 2003 Hello! Last month: "...Sean Riggins,
a 16-year-old high school wrestler and linebacker who dreamed of
playing football at Penn State University. One day in September,
this 5-foot-6, 175-pound dynamo -- a guy who could make friends
with anybody from the most popular jock to the smartest bookworm
-- walked into a local gas station, bought a $2 packet of pills
located next to the sodas and candy bars, and swallowed them, thinking
they would help make him stronger. He never thought those pills,
which contained the amphetamine-like stimulant ephedra, would harm
him. But Sean's father, Kevin Riggins, thinks otherwise. He buried
his only son last September after the boy collapsed from a heatstroke
that Kevin Riggins blamed on ephedra. The local coroner agreed that
the stimulant contributed to the boy's death." "While the baseball
players' association still has not put forth its position on a potential
ban of ephedra from the game, the union has begun to encourage players
to refrain from using dietary supplements that contain the controversial
stimulant. In a memo sent to players on all 30 major league teams
this week, union chiefs Donald Fehr and Gene Orza 'strongly recommend'
that players 'be extremely reluctant to use any products containing
ephedra.'" This is not just a sports
issue. This is not just a diet pills issue. Chances are you have
taken, or know someone who has taken ephedra in one form or another.
I got through student teaching by consistently taking my prescription
allergy medication. It kept me awake, but I was too busy to sleep,
so that was okay. Only when I started getting shaky did the school
nurse point out that what I was taking contained ephedra and could
be the cause of my edginess. At the time, that meant nothing to
me. I had never heard of ephedra. "Most of the foods
you see on the shelves of your local grocery store and the drugs
your doctor prescribes for you are regulated by a government agency
called the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA ensures that
many foods, beverages, and drugs adhere to certain safety standards.
But sports supplements aren't regulated by the FDA, and no sports
supplements have been tested on kids and teens. That means that
scientists and doctors don't know whether supplements are safe or
effective for teens to use.... The
National Football League (NFL), the National Collegiate Athletic
Association (NCAA), and the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
have banned the use of steroids, creatine, ephedra, and androstenedione
by their athletes, and competitors who use them face fines, ineligibility,
and suspension from their sports." My medication was prescribed;
it's effectiveness and ingredients had been studied and approved
by the FDA. It still caused side-effects that I did not expect.
The dietary supplements on the market have no one regulating them.
Should they? In today's Internet world,
one can find information about just about anything in minutes. The
positive and negative results from people who have taken these supplements
are out there. Questions of the Week: Please email me with any ideas or suggestions. I look forward to reading what you have to say. Cindy |
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