Ephedra and Ephedrine? What is the difference?

Ephedra is a member of the family of herbs known as the Ephedracae. It has been used in China for more than 4000 years. Ma Huang is a Chinese herb whose natural ingredient is ephedra. Ephedra refers to the whole herb, and is natural and safe when used properly. It has been widely used throughout history as a treatment for asthma, hay fever, and allergies. More recently ephedra has become known for its thermogenic and fat burning qualities and has been added to many herbal supplements because of its stimulant and appetite-suppressing effects. There are also synthetic varieties of ephedra such as Ephedrine HCL that are manufactured in laboratories.

Ephedrine is only one of the alkaloids present in the herb ephedra. Pseudoephedrine is another alkaloid present in ephedra, but it is not as potent as ephedrine. It is hypothesized that the whole herb ephedra is safer to consume than a product containing alkaloid consituents of ephedra because the concentration of alkaloids is much higher in ephedrine based products than products containing ephedra, or ma huang.