Legal ephedra? Retailer says he's within the law

McALLEN - A new form of ephedra creeping onto the shelves of nutrition stores may have found its way into the Rio Grande Valley.

Pump Nutrition, a store that sells dietary supplements, offers a form of ephedra that its owner says is perfectly legal despite federal and state bans on ephedra supplements.

Since 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has prohibited the sale of supplements containing ephedrine alkaloids - the chemicals derived from the ephedra plant. Supplements containing those ingredients pose a risk of serious health problems including heart attack and strokes, the FDA and other medical experts say.

But Aaron Garza, who runs Pump Nutrition and a gym called Pump 24 Hour Training Mecca gym, said he isn't breaking any laws by selling his brand of supplements due to its unique formula.

The Monitor purchased a bottle of capsules from Pump Nutrition that a salesperson said contained ephedra and would help promote weight loss.

The product, called XP2G, lists Ma Huang and Sida Cordifolia as ingredients. The FDA says both ingredients are sources of the banned ephedrine alkaloids.

Garza, a bodybuilder who nearly won the Mr. USA competition in 2004, said XP2G is manufactured for his store by a private lab.

He said his pills are made from the same plants used to make traditional ephedra products but lack the ephedrine alkaloid chemicals named in the bans.

Garza said because XP2G lacks those particular chemicals, it does not present the same risk of side effects as traditional ephedra products, and it is not in violation of the bans.

He conceded that XP2G is probably not as effective as ephedra sold before the ban, explaining that it works primarily by suppressing the appetite. Traditional ephedra supplements boost the heart rate to promote weight loss.

"Most people use it in combination with a diet," Garza said.

Karen Tannert, chief pharmacist with the Texas Department of State Health Services, said she has only learned of the advent of so-called legal ephedra in recent months.

She said it's still a difficult area for regulators, since the only way to verify claims like Garza's is through laboratory testing of the supplements in question. The Monitor did not test Garza's supplements.

University of Maryland professor Dr. Fermin Barrueto said legal ephedra is only a marketing gimmick. He said the only way to remove banned chemicals from ephedra is through a complicated extraction process that manufacturers are unlikely to perform.

But Tannert suggested the new form of ephedra may be a developing trend.

"What these people have done is realized there's a few plant species in the ephedra family that don't contain any of those six (banned) chemicals," Tannert said. "Technically, they can still call it ephedra, because they've sidestepped that ephedra alkaloid (prohibition)."

Ryan Holeywell covers McAllen, PSJA, the Mid-Valley and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4446.