Fort Bliss Officials Warn About Lethal Effects of Common Stimulant After Three Soldiers Die
Dietary supplements are not as healthy as you think!
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a national warning that a stimulant known as dimethylamylamine, or DMAA for short, presents serious health hazards such as heightened blood pressure, which may cause heart attacks.
DMAA is found in many fat-burning products, the most prominent being Jack3d, sold at retailers such as GNC and Vitamin Shoppe.
Fort Bliss continues to pursue the removal of products with DMAA since it has harmed some of their soldiers. Back in 2011 two Fort Bliss Soldiers, Private First Class Michael Sparling and Sergeant Demekia Cola, died of heart failure during physical training.
During autopsies, DMAA use was determined to be a contributing factor in both deaths. On July 27, 2012, a third Fort Bliss Soldier, Private First Class David Artis, died of heat stroke during physical fitness training. DMAA use was linked to his death as well.
Major General Pittard initially demanded the removal of DMAA products from the shelves of all GNC stores on post. This was an unpopular move, one that raised the ire of folks on Fort Bliss, supplement product manufactures, and officers at the highest level of our Army.
Fort Bliss partnered with the Consortium for Health and Military Performance (CHMAP), and the Department of Defense Department of Military and Emergency Medicine, in an attempt to eradicate DMAA products from the Army and all of DoD. This was part of Fort Bliss' "No Preventable Soldier Death" campaign that has resulted in the lowest suicide rate in the Army and the lowest rate of preventable Soldier death of any large military installation.
As a result of Fort Bliss' unified campaign, the Army banned supplements with DMAA for all installations in March 2012 and the Department of Defense banned supplements with DMAA for all U.S.military installations in July 2012. Now, the FDA has pressured sports organizations and supplement retailers to ban DMAA. The recent action by the FDA may have saved countless lives.
They continue to hold events that push FDA legislation on DMAA. Major General Dana JH Pittard, Commander of Fort Bliss and 1AD, and Francis O' Connor, Medical Director and Consortium for Health and Military Performance, will be speaking at an event to explain Fort Bliss' role in pushing for this legislation on May 1st, 2013 at 1AD Division HQ.
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