Bronkaid is primarily and asthma medication, but there is a growing trend of people using it as a weight-loss supplement. The question is, does Bronkaid for weight loss and should you consider using it to help with your weight loss goals?
How It Works
The ingredient that makes Bronkaid work for weight loss is ephedrine. Ephedrine exists in traditional Chinese medicine as Ma Huang and has been used as a decongestant and stimulant for centuries. It should be noted though that in traditional medicine, Ma Huang was never used for weight loss or fat loss purposes.
According to Nutrition Bytes, ephedrine works by, “increasing the sympathetic tone of various resting tissue beds, notably fat.” Essentially, the sympathetic nervous system has the capacity to begin thermogenesis, breaking down tissue for energy. Ephedrine can instigate this process, especially in combination with caffeine.
In its modern form, ephedrine was used as a weight loss agent, usually combined with caffeine and aspirin in an ‘ECA stack’. These had proven efficacy and are still popular in the bodybuilding community.
In addition to increasing actual fat burning, ephedrine also decreases appetite. Many users report having almost no appetite while using an ECA stack. In fact, it can often be important to force yourself to eat while using this protocol, in order not to lose excessive amounts of muscle.
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Are There Any Negative Effects?
In a word, yes. The reason people may use Bronkaid for weight loss is that ephedrine-based weight loss supplements have been illegal in the US since 2006. This was a response to over 18,000 complaints received by the US Food and Drug Administration. These included:
- Nausea
- Angina
- Flushing and Sweating
- Confusion
- Insomnia
- Paranoia
- Panic
- Dizziness
What’s more, ephedrine should not be used together with any antidepressants, high blood pressure, hyperthyroidism, or during pregnancy.
With all of this, it seems like the risks of using Bronkaid for weight loss may well outweigh the benefits. It may be worth looking further at the mechanism of ephedrine in the body to understand how to find a better alternative.
Alternatives
Bronkaid works by activating the sympathetic nervous system to initiate thermogenesis, or heat-generation through burning tissue. Before reaching out for a chemical approach, it may be worth looking at other interventions that do not require as extreme an approach:
Exercise – Exercise also creates thermogenesis. In fact, effects of exercise are probably far greater than those from ephedrine. There is little evidence to suggest that Bronkaid or other forms of ephedrine can be effective unless you are already exercising. This is one of the reasons it is usually recommended as a pre-workout supplement rather than just being used ‘whenever’.
Eating – Eating is a major initiator of thermogenesis. Of course, if you overeat it is not helpful for weight loss, but eating regularly and consuming foods high in nutrition but regularly low in calories can certainly help with your fat-burning.
Herbs and spices – Cinnamon is one example of a spice that helps with thermogenesis and glucose (sugar) management. Herbs and spices generally are a wonderful nutritional booster that can put your body in a good state to burn fat.
Supplements – Legal supplements can also help with fat-burning depending on your situation. Caffeine is the most obvious example and virtually all ephedrine protocols also use caffeine. However, caffeine alone is both legal and highly studied. Plus it is available in many delicious forms such as tea and coffee, as well as pills.
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Conclusion
While Bronkaid is legal, using it for fat-burning is outside the scope of its purpose. And while it may be effective for fat loss in some people, this depends on a number of other factors. In fact, before trying Bronkaid for weight loss, it is important to have your exercise and nutrition nailed down.
I would also recommend trying simpler supplements such as caffeine to get an extra boost, before trying something with as many potential side effects as ephedrine.
The question should I use Bronkaid for weight loss depends on many personal considerations. But when a chemical is made illegal for a specific purpose it is always worth considering why that is. And ephedrine has too many question marks around it for most people.
If you have everything else nailed down then it may be worth considering, but otherwise, there are probably ways to achieve your weight loss goals.
