WWII-era stimulant drug discovered in weight loss supplements

An experimental stimulant drug from the World War II-era is showing up in weight loss and sports supplements sold today, according to a new study.

In addition to phenpromethamine, the study identified eight other prohibited stimulants in sports and weight loss supplements, which were often found mixed together in various combinations to create "cocktails" of stimulant drugs that have never been studied in people, the authors said. "This is really surprising," study lead author Dr. Pieter Cohen, a general internist at the Cambridge Health Alliance and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, told Live Science. "Finding nine different experimental prohibited stimulants at the same time was really quite shocking." The authors found as many as four different stimulants in a single supplement.