Hacker News Reader

We had a great replacement for caffeine -- ephedrine. Mini-Thins were a staple of my college life. Then they banned it (I blame media hysteria), and now I'm stuck with the steeping ephedra plant leaves (known as "Mormon tea" in these parts) for the occasional late-night productivity boost.

View on HN

My understanding is that ephedrine was one of very few drugs that had a demonstrated ability to increase metabolism and decrease hunger, at least when combined with caffeine[1]. It did so in relative safety, and the only deaths I'm aware of were due to overdose. Given the obesity problem in the US, I'm still amazed that it got banned.

[1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1318281

Try Bronkaid.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com