AHPA Members Can't Label DMAA as From Geranium

SILVER SPRING, Md.Members of the American Herbal Products Association (AHPA) will no longer be able to label 1,3-dimethylamylamine as geranium oil or as any part of the geranium plant, according to a trade requirement approved by the board of trustees at last months meeting.

The trade requirement becomes effective on Jan. 13, 2012. Nothing in the new requirement prevents labeling of any compound that is in fact derived from geranium plant materials by that compound's common or usual name. 

1,3-Dimethylamylamine, also known as DMAA; 1,3-dimethylpentylamine; methylhexaneamine (MHA); methylhexanamine; methylhexamine; 4-methyl-2-hexanamine; and 2-amino-4-methylhexane, was an inhaled nasal-decongestant drug synthesized by Eli Lilly and Company in 1971 and known as Forthane. More recently, DMAA has been used in dietary supplements for weight loss and bodybuilding.

AHPA said it is sometimes referred to as geranamine due to a single report from a report in a technical institute journal that found DMAA was  a naturally occurring essential oil distilled from geranium leaf. That study, by Ping et al. (Journal of Guizhou Institute of Technology 1996;(25)82-85), which identified the presence of DMAA in geranium, described a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis of essential oil obtained from steam distilling the minced, air-dried leaf of fresh Pelargonium graveolens. More than 40 compounds were reportedly detected, and 31 of them were assigned identities based on automatic computer matching to a MS spectral library.

Also at its July meeting, the board approved the appointment of John Doherty and Bill Carter, Esq., as co-chairs of the AHPA Sports Nutrition Committee. Doherty is director of regulatory affairs for Iovate Health Sciences, Ontario, Canada.Carter is general counsel for Bodybuilding.com, Meridian, ID. Doherty and Carter replace Erica Stump, Esq., formerly of Bodybuilding.com, who left the company in early April.

At the July meeting, AHPA also amended its existing guidance policy on Class 1 solvents.