Weight-loss supplements being sold online may include ingredients that are hazardous to your heart according to study done by researchers with the Texas Heart Institute. Researchers reviewed 12 different brands of weight-loss supplements to determine if any of the ingredients had a common association with cardiac problems. Each bottle had an average of 7.25 ingredients. One bottle was found to contain ma huang, commonly known as Chinese ephedra, despite the USDA having banned ephedra in 2004. Other ingredients that the study identified as being potentially dangerous to the heart included: bitter orange, Camellia sinensis, green tea, buckwheat, guarana, Korean ginseng, licorice root, Synephrine HCl, caffeine anhydrous and citrus aurantium.
