JEDDAH, 12 March 2004 — The Kingdom has banned the import and sale of dietary supplements containing the popular weight-loss stimulant ephedra, a month ahead of its ban in the United States.
According to sources at the Ministry of Health, the ban comes after the FDA linked the amphetamine-like stimulant to 16,000 adverse reactions and 155 deaths.
Ephedra will become illegal in the US on April 12.
The MOH source told Al-Madinah newspaper the ministry never registered or cleared any supplements that contain ephedra and that anybody involved in the sale and distribution of ephedra will be punished.
The ministry is currently investigating the matter as is the Saudi food and drug commission.
The reason ephedra, a naturally occurring substance derived from plants, could be imported into the Kingdom is that it is considered an alternative medicine and does not fall under the same strict laws that regulate the rest of the industry. According to Abdul Wahab Hassen, a pharmacist working in Jeddah, “it’s a supplement, and there are other herbal supplements in the market which, although harmless, are still unregulated.”
Health Ministry representatives have been inspecting pharmacies in the city to see if they were complying with the ban.
“It was very popular, and I never heard any complaints from my customers. I believe the deaths attributed to ephedra were because people were abusing it by exceeding the recommended dosage,” said Ali, a nutritionist at a health store in north Jeddah.
The ban came as no surprise to Ali. “It’s been off the market for almost two months, and we’ve had health inspectors check our stores,” he said.
All pharmacies and nutrition stores interviewed by Arab News have also been ephedra-free for the same period.
Customers in the Kingdom did not get a chance to stock up as the ban was not announced at the time. “People still come in and ask for it,” he said.
Tamer Rida, 35, used ephedra in the late 90s for over a year and sustained a permanent muscle injury while working out. “If anybody is on ephedra I recommend they take a blood test to check their potassium hasn’t dropped to a level where they need hospitalization. Lack of potassium makes muscle contractions irregular, which could lead to a heart attack.
