Several major retailers have pulled the drug due to safety concerns. Major League Baseball may soon join the National Football League in banning ephedrine, a supplement linked to heatstroke and heart attacks. The drug may have been a factor in the death last February of Steve Bechler, a pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles.

Despite such risks people are seeking a simple way to lose pounds fast, said Katherine Beals, a nutrition professor.

"American's are looking for a quick fix," said Beals, a dedicated distance runner. "Rather than eating healthfully and exercising, which take time and effort, we would rather pop a pill to lose weight. A pill is thought to be infinitely easier and potentially quicker.

"Unfortunately, as we saw with fen-phen in the 1990s and now with ephedrine, it is also risky," she said. "Yet, a good many Americans are willing to take that risk and forsake their health in the name of looking good."

Fen-phen became the diet craze in the 1990s after research found a positive slimming effect from combining two appetite suppressants, fenfluramine and phentermine.

Beals said that even the fallout caused by several deaths has hardly put a dent in the nation's hunger for weight loss pills.

"Most of the supplements that are sold over-the-counter are worthless at best and dangerous at worst as in the case of ephedrine," Beals said.

For more information, contact Beals at kbeals@bsu.edu or (765) 285-5931.