Dietary supplements don’t make big time news very often unless a professional athlete is claiming that a supplement he was taking was tainted with an anabolic steroid or if some misguided reporter is comparing creatine to winstrol. Recently the NBC New program Rock Center ran a story on the once popular stimulant DMAA (unfortunately it was about a year too late). This really brought the DMAA story back to the spotlight and has people asking a lot of questions. Here are the 7 things that you should know about DMAA.
1. DMAA stands for 1,3-Dimethylamylamine and also goes by methylhexanamine. It was thought to be an extract from geraniums (yes the flowers)
2. Recently on Rock Center an FDA official stated that DMAA was illegal. Why? Because the FDA has recently questioned the fact that DMAA is a dietary supplement due to newer research that could not find DMAA in geraniums (meaning that it is not a dietary supplement but a synthetic drug – see point 6 for more on this). The FDA just must move kind of slow as in the Spring of last year they announced that:
Synthetically-produced DMAA is not a dietary ingredient and is not therefore, eligible to be used as an active ingredient in dietary supplements.
3. The scientific research surrounding DMAA is near non-existent. One study in humans showed that when combined with caffeine, DMAA led to increase in systolic and diastolic blood pressure without increasing heart rate (See point 5 for more on this).
4. The Army and Air Force Exchange Service and Navy Exchange stores pulled all products containing DMAA from shelves following the deaths of several soldiers where DMAA was thought to play a role.
5. DMAA is a stimulant. Just as it replaced ephedra as the upper of choice for many people to fuel their workouts, it will be replaced by something else in the near future (if not already as Dendrobium is gaining popularity). It is important to know that with the exception of caffeine most stimulants are not rigorously tested (if at all). There is another added layer of complexity regarding stimulants as most supplement formulations combine stimulants in unknown dosages (not that knowing the dosage would really help as proper dosing of many stimulants is anecdotal at best). This puts us all in uncharted territory with respects to the impact of a compound or formulation of compounds on our body. So tread carefully, always be conservative with stimulant use, and don’t overuse them.
6. DMAA is actually a drug developed by the pharmaceutical company Lily in the mid 1940s for use as a decongestant under the name Forthane. It was re-patented in the early 1970s and removed from the market by the end of that decade.
7. DMAA is really a non-issue now as in the past year most companies reformulated their products, removing DMAA from them. Jack3d and OxyElite Pro were the last mainstream supplements (from what I know) that had versions containing DMAA but 2 days ago they announced they were removing DMAA from those products. USPLabs (the makers of Jack3d and OxyElite Pro) made versions that were DMAA free (e.g. Jack3d Micro) as Bodybuilding.com stopped selling products containing DMAA over a year ago. With 10,000,000 customers, Bodybuilding.com is the big gorilla in supplement sales so if they say they won’t sell products containing certain ingredients (like DMAA), companies reformulate. It seems in this situation that Bodybuilding.com was more effective than the FDA at getting DMAA off the market!
Good info, thanks Mike, was just talking about this with a friend and we came to the same conclusion you did. The companies will just roll out a new ingredient for that extra kick and the cycle will repeat.
While I still find jack3d to be a solid product, it doesn’t provide the same kick for me.
Then again, most people don’t do nearly the research that they should on the supplements that they put into their body.
From what I just read this ISN’T good for you at all to take????
So this ISN’T good for you to take at all?????!!!!
correct. You can’t find it anymore for sale.
Yes you can….it’s illegal to sell as a dietary supplement, you can buy it as long as the label does not claim this… I just bought a new preworkout with DMAA and DMHA (dark matter). It’s legal because the label says not for human consumption, reader has purposes only!
Hey Mike,
My name is Sean and I got to this article a few years too late but I wanted to share my experience and get your advice on something.
A few years back I tried a pre-workout product called “Meth” by InVitro Labs. This was when I was heavy into working out using isolation workouts with weights before learning about HiiT later on. As for my size: I am 6’6 260 pounds. Throughout my entire life, I have always been resistant (at least that is the term I use) to many pre-workouts as it does not give me the boost or energy I am looking for. For the longest time and even now, I think it is because of my size. Regardless, I have never taken more than the recommended dosage of a pre workout to “make-up” for my size just to feel the effects. This pre-workout got me to about 285 pounds at one point. It was more mass than muscle and maybe that was because of my type of workouts but this pre workout got me huge. I was a force and it was a bit exciting to be honest.
When I tried “Meth” I felt like I was on another planet. I was lifting weights I would never be able to without being on a pre-workout or at least not as fast as I was able to do it on “Meth.” I was able to work out for 2 or 3 hours without any sign of catabolism ( I am pretty sure this is why you don’t work out for too long but please correct me if I am wrong). I was eating regularly and I was able to extremely focused in and out of the gym. I got hooked on it. This was around the same time when they were selling a product called “Angel Dust” on the shelves right next to “Meth.” It turns out I tried going to the supplement store to buy 4 or 5 tubs of it because I was no stranger to the pre workout market. I knew their products come out in 2 or 3 month phases and then the FDA catches on and has to remove it again. It turns out I was a little late and the stores already removed the “Meth” product line. I never got to try it again.
Since then I have been trying to find pre workouts similar to its strength and have had no luck. To this day I am searching for something like this and I feel a bit guilty like I am chasing a high but when I see my size i know for a fact there is huge potential to be bigger and stronger and this made revealed strengths i didnt think i had.
The following link shows you the ingredients of “Meth.”
https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=165317311&page=1
I further researched the ingredients in “Meth” that could have been the root cause of the insane amount of energy, power and focus I had when I was taking the pre-workout. I even talked to the owner of a supplement shop I go to. I boiled it down to geranaburn (germanium root extract), methylxanthine anhydrous or both. I further researched these and found info on DMAA and xanthines in general.
I would love to get a pre workout that is as much of a force as the “Meth” pre workout I was on without dipping into the steroid market as I really dont want to touch any of that crap. What is your opinion? I feel like mybody in general has a very high tolerance for energy supplements and it really sucks. I have no idea how to counter this the safe way and I am seeking help to try and do just that. But working out with no pre-workout is insanely tough given the daily stresses we all go through. A lot of people have told me to “rely” on natrual food sources for all my energy needs and I just dont think natural food is ever going to allow me to reach my strength threshold as an individual. I am talking about the strength threshold I believe is within my genetic capabilities. I am trying to tap into that strength. If you want to ask me more questions or talk further about this to try and help me out feel free to reach out to the email I provided below! I am sorry for the essay but I needed to get this out there. I very rarely find people posting about their struggle reaching their full strength potential WITHOUT bringing up steroids. It does not seem like many are in my boat.
I hope to hear from you soon!