Concerns regarding the safety of diet pills containing Ephedra, which are highly effective for short-term weight loss, led the FDA to ban the sale of Ephedra-containing supplements in the United States in 2004.
Since a court ruling in April of 2005, diet pills with Ephedra containing 10 mg or less of ephedrine alkaloids per daily dose could not be restricted by the FDA.
This led to new products such as Trimethylean,
which contain the maximum 10mg of unaltered ephedrine alkaloids per daily dose. More recently, the removal of the harmful ephedrine alkaloids from dietary supplement
formulas has made Ephedra legal in all 50 states. These new diet pills with ephedra are still very effective weight loss supplements.