Study: Supplements with ingredient Acacia rigidula contain amphetamine isomer

HOBOKEN, N.J. - Harvard Medical School researcher Pieter Cohen on Tuesday called on the Food and Drug Administration to swiftly crack down on supplements containing Acacia rigidula, which has been found to contain an amphetamine isomer BMPEA. According to the research, 52.4% (11 of 21) of Acacia rigdula supplements contained the isomer at dosages ranging up to 93.7 mg per day. "The FDA should immediately warn consumers about BMPEA and take aggressive enforcement action to eliminate BMPEA in dietary supplements," Cohen wrote in the medical journal Drug Testing and Analysis. 

 

"Consumers of Acacia rigidula supplements may be exposed to pharmacological dosages of an amphetamine isomer that lacks evidence of safety in humans," Cohen said. 

 

“We share the concerns of Dr. Pieter Cohen and his study co-authors regarding BMPEA, an amphetamine isomer stimulant that should not be used in dietary supplement products because it is a synthetic drug-like substance, not a dietary ingredient," commented Steve Mister president and CEO for the Council for Responsible Nutrition. "Given FDA’s earlier findings combined with this new study by Dr. Cohen, we urge FDA to take immediate enforcement action against these adulterated products containing BMPEA and the companies illegally spiking these products with this synthetic drug." 

 

FDA first raised the issue of Acacia rigidula supplements adulterated with BMPEA in an article published by the agency in 2014 in the Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis, noting that the amine compound is not found in the Acacia rigidula plant, Mister noted.