Craze, a popular sports supplement that’s sold as giving extreme energy and focus, has been found to contain a potentially harmful stimulant similar to methamphetamine.
Via Huffington Post:
A new study published Monday in the journal Drug Testing and Analysis found that the stimulant in Craze isn’t listed on the product’s label, and hasn’t been studied in humans.
“Alarmingly, we have found a drug in a mainstream sports supplement that has never been studied in humans,” says Dr. Pieter Cohen, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who worked on the study. “The health risk of using supplements adulterated with a drug should not be underestimated.”
The substance, N,alpha-diethylphenylethylamine (N,alpha-DEPEA) was described as a stimulant with effects that are “likely less potent than methamphetamine but greater than ephedrine.” Cohen told USA Today that it’s difficult to gauge the compound’s effects or addictive properties because it hasn’t been studied.
“It might make you feel better or have you more pumped up in your workout, but the risks you might be putting your body under of heart attack and stroke are completely unknown,” Cohen told USA Today.
Reports say Harvard researchers began studying Craze after two athletes who used it last year were banned from international competitions after failing drug tests. Samples from a GNC store and a couple ofwebsites were revealed to contain 21 to 35 milligrams per serving of N,alpha-DEPEA, which is a pharmaceutical-level dose.
It’s crazy how much shady business goes on when it comes to what’s in our food and even supplements. It might be for the best to just keep it simple with a banana, nature’s energy bar, or heck, maybe even coffee.