The recent ban on a dangerous stimulant may lead to students choosing healthier alternatives to weight loss, an ISU student health official said.

Dietary supplements containing ephedra are no longer permitted because of serious side effects, the Food and Drug Administration ruled Friday.

Ephedra, used by dieters to lose weight and by athletes for an energy boost, is found to increase heart rate and blood pressure, leading to heart attacks and strokes, said Marc Shulman, staff physician at Thielen Student Health Center.

“We see people coming in not feeling well,” Shulman said. “Their heart rate is racing and they are feeling on the edge.”

He said the stimulant is dangerous is glad to see it has been banned.

Although the drug is advertised to be a fat burner and appetite quencher, there is no medical evidence to support those claims, Shulman said. Studies on the drug have only confirmed ephedra’s side effects.

The drug doesn’t allow the stomach to contract, which may cause stomach pain.

Other possible side effects include psychiatric problems due to anxiety and lack of sleep, leading to insomnia, Shulman said.

He said ephedra has an effect similar to a large dose of caffeine.

Ruth Litchfield, associate professor of food science and human nutrition, said people do not realize dietary supplements are not regulated by the FDA, unlike prescription drugs.

For dietary supplements, there are no preapproval requirements, allowing products to be on the market until proven unsafe, Litchfield said. This is compared with regulations for prescription drug companies, which have to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of their products before they’re on the market, she said.

The only time a diet drug has to be approved before it hits the market is if it contains a new dietary ingredient, said John Taylor, director of the FDA’s Offices of Enforcement and Regulatory Affairs, in a statement to the Senate’s Committee of Commerce.

Alyssa Emanuelson, junior in exercise and sport science and athletic trainer for ISU women’s soccer team, said athletes at Iowa State are randomly tested for drugs, including ephedra.

“We make sure that we tell the athletes about risks of using drugs,” she said.

The university follows its own drug regulations as well as complying with Big 12 Conference and NCAA regulations on drugs, she said.

Punishment for drug use at Iowa State ranges from suspension to being removed from a team, Emanuelson said.

The process of banning ephedra began in 1997 when the FDA first warned companies about the drug. In 2002, it announced its Better Health Information for Better Nutrition act with the goals of informing consumers about products they purchase and eliminating false and misleading claims, Taylor said.