Ephedrine & Caffeine. Does it Work? Is It Safe?

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Ephedrine as a weight loss supplement was banned in the US on April 12th 2004.

The death of Steve Bechler put the nail in the coffin for ephedrine/ephedra.

However, a forensic investigation by New York City Medical Examiner Dr. Michael M. Baden concluded that Mr Bechler,

“…died of a heat stroke precipitated by his morbid obesity, high blood pressure and heart disease, adverse weather conditions, physical exertion, and inadequate screening, monitoring and medical supervision.”

However, if the media gets involved and puts the blame on a certain supplement, you can almost certainly predict that a ban is coming.

Does the Ephedrine/Caffeine Stack Work?

We’ll come back to the safety issue in a minute.

Ephedrine/Caffeine is not needed when on gain cycles. However, in Total Six Pack Abs, it is one of my recommended supplements. Is it necessary? No. Does it help? Yes, a little.

In the book I say the following…

Before it was banned, ephedrine was about the only supplement that did indeed work to accelerate fat-loss. Ephedrine was to be taken with caffeine and sometimes aspirin in what was called the E.C.A. stack.
The dosage is 25 milligrams of ephedrine and 200 milligrams of caffeine to be taken together…. The caffeine has no real effect on its own but works to enhance the effectiveness of the ephedrine.

Clinical research has consistently verified the effectiveness of EC(A) on fat loss over placebos.

There is no doubt that this combo works. Also, there is another benefit that is rarely mentioned – its effect on hunger levels. The only time you should even be thinking of using and E/C stack is near the tail end of a cut. Your body is really starting to tighten up, but your hunger levels are also increasing.

Ephedrine/Caffeine really does help in blunting that hunger signal as well as giving you the physical and mental energy to do whatever you need to do during the day.

Again, it is NOT necessary for success, but will help if you want it. I only had to cut for 2 weeks last summer (2010), and I haven’t needed to cut at all since then (this is the first summer in years when I haven’t cut). So I haven’t taken any ephedrine since my last longer cut in summer 2009, which only lasted 4 weeks.

Note: The reason I haven’t needed to cut is because of something I mentioned in my last article; I am developing and testing a brand new way to combine so-called “bulking” and “cutting”, allowing you to do both at the same time. But back to the ephedrine…

Is It Safe?

In the following study researchers analyzed data on 257,236 Danish patients prescribed a combo of ephedrine and caffeine from 1995-2002 [1] That’s 7 years of E/C supplementation. The conclusion was that these patients did not have increased rates of heart attacks or strokes.

Considering you’re probably going to supplement with it for a couple of weeks once a year, I reckon you’ll be ok.

It’s your choice, but don’t expect miracles. All it will do is raise your metabolism a little and help you burn a little more fat; the vast majority of your fat-burning will still come from diet and exercise. Like I stated previously, the main benefit for me was actually its effect on hunger.

Where To Buy Ephedrine

You can still purchase ephedrine lawfully, just not as a weight-loss supplement. Ephedrine is also available as a decongestant for asthmatics and can be purchased online. So if you want it, you can get it.

Century Supplements sell it here. Although they say they don’t ship to US customers, I’m sure someone can enlighten us in the comments section below where they get their ephedrine in the US. Bear in mind that these are 8mg pills. 3 need to be taken at a time for the recommended dose.

You can easily get the 200mg caps of caffeine, and it’s very cheap. Right now at MyProtein you can get 100 caps for just £3.99, and at Amazon you can bag 100 caps for $5.99.

I want to reiterate that this article is not a recommendation for ephedrine usage. It’s your choice. If you’re a kid under 18, you’ve no business even looking at the stuff. I haven’t taken any in a couple of years and there’s just no need for me to take it at all ever again.

You can and WILL succeed without it by using an effective fat loss diet and workout program like TSPA.

Stay Motivated!

Mark

[1] Use of a prescribed ephedrine/caffeine combination and the risk of serious cardiovascular events: a registry-based case-crossover study

P.S. Andreas just wrote a kick-ass article over at MuscleHacker, “MANS Diet, Insulin and the Fat Phobia“

Related posts:

1. Does Caffeine Make You Fat?
2. Pre-Workout Caffeine Works!
3. Is The Atkins Diet Safe? Answer May Shock You!
4. What Is Creatine & How Does It Work?