(NAPSA)—In the midst of the swirling controversy surrounding the safety of hundreds of popular ephedra-based dietary products, comes news of an unusual, hi-tech clinical study. It indicates ephedrabased diet pills, which are considered unsafe by some people, may not be aseffective as a new, natural thermogenic weight-loss agent that has no history of adverse events. The study indicated that an ephedra-free green tea extract compound called Xenadrine EFX, is a more effective weight-loss agent than Dexatrim Natural or Metab-O-Lite brand ephedrabased diet pills. The head-to-head testing results of these three diet products are published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition. At the start of the trial, each patient’s normal caloric burning capacity, known as resting metabolic rate, was measured with a U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved device called the indirect calorimeter. It attaches to the mouth and measures respiratory rates. Based on oxygen con- sumption readings, doctors can calculate how manycalories a person burns daily. “Xenadrine EFX is an alternative for people concerned about the safety of ephedra or unable to tolerate ephedra-based products,” says Douglas Kalman, Director of the Clinical Nutrition Research Unit at Miami Research Associates in Florida, where the inde- pendent study was conducted. Kalman adds, “One might presume that an alternative would not be aseffective as the ‘original.’ i oS = KA Douglas Kalman,Director of the Clinical Nutrition Research Unit at Miami Research Associates, examines a clinical study participant using an indirect calorimeter. That’s why our team of physicians was surprised to learn that, within the confines of the study, the ephedra-free Xenadrine EFX capsules outperformed the two ephedra-based diet pills, when it cameto total calories burned.” The study concluded that patients burned five percent more calories taking ephedra-free Xenadrine EFX than when they took ephedra-based Dexatrim. They also burned 4.9 percent more calories using the ephedrafree product as compared to taking ephedra-based Metab-O-Lite. There are claims that ephedra, especially synthetic alkaloid-based ephedrine, might trigger heart palpitations. However, patients involved in the clinical trial exhibited no cardiacside effects. Doctors say if people are concerned about how ephedra products might affect them, they should consider taking the new Xenadrine EFX thermogenic green tea extract diet aid, which according to the Miami-based clinical study may be moreeffective than ephedra-based products altogether.
