Many companies have received a warning from the US Food and Drug Administration to stop selling dietary supplements that contain a stimulant known as DMBA.

As per experts, it is the latest in a series of moves to clamp down on potentially dangerous weight-loss and body-building products. Earlier this month, the agency had issued warning to five companies to stop selling dietary supplements that include a stimulant known as beta-methylphenylethylamine (BMPEA). According to the experts, BMPEA is frequently hidden in supplements that contain Acacia rigidula.

Lawmakers and a Harvard University academic, Dr. Pieter Cohen, has asked the FDA to take some steps. Dr. Pieter Cohen has been examining the presence of synthetic stimulants in supplements.

"This is extremely welcome news. Rather than waiting until heart attacks, strokes or deaths are definitely linked to this new designer stimulant, the FDA has now made it extremely clear to manufacturers that there is no justification to sell DMBA in supplements", said Cohen.

In 2014, a study was published by Cohen showing that DMBA was present in 12 supplements marketed to enhance athletic performance, increase weight loss and improve brain function. He also indicated that the products that contain BMPEA were still in the market a year after the FDA researchers found the stimulant in Acacia rigidula supplements.

According to the experts, DMBA and BMPEA are like 1,3-dimethylamylamine (DMAA) that was banned by the FDA when it was linked to heart failure, strokes, and sudden cardiac arrest. Way back in 2004, a stimulant known as ephedra was banned by the FDA. Since 2004, the companies have been putting efforts to replace it with other stimulants purported to be natural.