I have a theory… I think we’re going to start seeing an abnormal amount of young people, particularly 30 something females, dropping down dead from heart attacks. There’s not a direct correlations, with the recent passing of Brittany Murphy (age 32) and Casey Johnson (age 30), but their sudden deaths made me think of it.
Over the past 15 years we’ve seen an increase of people using diet pills to lose weight. A large number of these ‘effective’ diet pills, contain ephedrine/ephedra. Although most don’t admit to it, a large portion of the successful ‘celebrity diets,’ are attributed to ephedra–based supplements such as Superdrine, Metabothin, Ripped Power and Yellow Devils.
People may lose weight, but when they take these drugs their heart rate, blood pressure, and body heat are all increased. On top of that, these crazy people still exercise! They’re making their heart work harder than it needs to. I feel (and I’m not a medical expert, but I’ve been surrounded by them my entire life) that with continual use you are weakening your heart. By 30 something your heart is like that of a 60 or 70-year-old, or it’s just plan ‘ol tired, so it stops and you drop dead.
It has become so common now, that while walking down the halls of my university, I overheard two teens (mind u they weren’t fat) discussing loosing weight. One girl suggested coke, but the other girl responded that she had done that before, and didn’t feel like going that route. She said that instead she was just going to take Superdrine or something to that effect. This kind of talk has become so commonplace, it’s so sad.
New products containing orange bitter, like MetaboSpeed, have been added to the market in wake of many deaths from ephedra, they are supposedly ‘healthier,’ but essentially do the same thing. I could be wrong, but taking diet pills seem like the lazy (and hazardous!) option. It’s a burden and takes extra effort, but I’m a big advocate of upping the greens, fluids, exercise, and getting your mind right.
…oh and a grown ass woman who is a size 00 is just not sexy!
whatgetsyoumovin.com 
I agree,
Life expectancy seems to be shrinking all the time.
We are prematurely aging on all levels to suit commercial taste & social pressures, and all for what?
It turns people into a commodity – which erases the value people truly have.
Whatever happened to aging gracefully?
oh so true. don’t let me get into the adverse effects of plastic surgery…
we used to be able to expect to live long, but with all these things that we think are helping us defy age, we’ve manage create a new kind of society-induced suicide.
i’d have to agree with this theory of yours and add to it that our life styles don’t help the situation either. here’s a scenario: i’m nearly 24, i work easily up to 60hrs/wk (some of my friends work 80 friggin hours!!) and i drink 2 cups of coffee a day, i work out 4 days a week, when i party -i tend to go all out (cuz who knows when i’ll get to party again due to my work schedule?)… so, take crazy work hours, caffeine, gym, binge alcohol intake, and if i were to throw ephedrine in there- umm i’d be dead at 30 as well. yep, sounds about right. but, i don’t take diet pills, so does that give me death at 40?? (sorry, just trying to make light of a serious issue).
true, true….but i’m a firm believer of work hard, party harder haha. ;0) …we’ll be fine.
I just smoke crack and I’m healthy as an OX. Go figure. Only thing is I’m always broke….
oxes have weak hearts. =) …and yes, being broke will kill you too!