Why doesn the FDA regulate herbal supplements?
Around 2800 B.C., Chinese healers added a new medicinal herb to their repertoires. This herb, a short, evergreen shrub, was dubbed Ma Huang (“bitter yellow”), after the plant’s color and horrible taste [source: Berkley]. When brewed into a tea, it’s a powerhouse against respiratory problems like colds. Ma Huang became a worthy tool in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). In 1887, a Japanese chemist isolated the active ingredient in the plant, an alkaloid he called ephedrine or ephedra [source: Ebadi
