DMAA

Is DMAA safe?

No. DMAA (1,3-dimethylamylamine) is a synthetic stimulant that was widely sold in pre-workout powders and fat burners until the FDA moved against it in 2012 and 2013. The FDA's position is blunt: "DMAA is not a dietary ingredient, and DMAA-containing products marketed as dietary supplements are illegal." It advises consumers "not to purchase or use any product containing DMAA".

It scores 23, between tianeptine at 19 and phenibut at 25, and well below legal stimulant blends such as pre-workout at 51. The regulatory and quality factors carry most of the weight: DMAA has been removed from the legal market in the US and most other countries, yet it and its relatives keep reappearing in products.

How the FDA removed DMAA

The FDA began sending warning letters to DMAA sellers in April 2012. In 2013 it detained the two best-known products, Jack3d and OxyElite Pro; their maker, USPlabs, destroyed stock worth more than $8 million at retail and agreed to stop using DMAA.

One company fought back. The FDA seized DMAA products from Hi-Tech Pharmaceuticals in 2013, and a federal district court ruled in April 2017 that they were adulterated. The Eleventh Circuit upheld that decision in 2019, the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal in 2020, and the products were destroyed on 12 November 2020. That case settled the legal question: DMAA is an unsafe food additive in supplements, not a lawful dietary ingredient.

Other regulators moved at about the same time. Health Canada ruled in 2011 that products containing DMAA must be authorised as drugs. Australia's TGA prohibited it in 2012. In August 2012 the UK medicines regulator, the MHRA, won an appeal over Jack3d and declared DMAA products unlicensed medicines that had to come off the market. The World Anti-Doping Agency lists it as a stimulant prohibited in competition.

What harm has been reported?

DMAA is a sympathomimetic stimulant: it releases noradrenaline, which speeds up the heart and raises blood pressure. The FDA lists effects "ranging from shortness of breath and tightening in the chest to heart attack", as well as seizures and other neurological and psychological problems.

The case reports involve young, fit people, usually during exercise:

• Two US soldiers collapsed from cardiac arrest during physical training and died, both after taking supplements containing DMAA with other ingredients (Military Medicine, 2012).
• A 22-year-old man had a heart attack caused by a clot in a coronary artery after three weeks of daily Jack3d and a bitter orange product before workouts (2014).
• A 21-year-old man had a cardiac arrest after a DMAA workout supplement (2015).
• UK clinical toxicologists described a death during a marathon associated with DMAA (2015).

The evidence has limits. A small 2013 study found that a single 25 mg dose caused little change in heart rate or blood pressure in seven healthy men, and blood levels were 15 to 30 times lower than in the adverse event cases. That suggests risk climbs with higher doses, stacking several scoops, combining stimulants and hard exercise in heat, which is how many people use pre-workouts.

Is DMAA still in supplements?

Yes, under other names and in new forms. The original marketing said DMAA came from geranium oil, so labels listed "geranium extract". Four laboratories later analysed 18 geranium plant samples and 9 oils from around the world and found no DMAA in any of them; the product was synthetic.

After the bans, manufacturers turned to close relatives. A 2018 study of six US supplements found 1,4-DMAA, which had never been tested in humans, at 21 mg to 94 mg a serving, along with octodrine (DMHA) and DMBA, and banned 1,3-DMAA itself at 24 mg to 35 mg. A 2021 study of 17 brands found many combined two to four prohibited stimulants in one product.

Recalls continue. In 2026 alone, two products were recalled in Class I, the FDA's most serious category: Modern Warrior Ready capsules in January, found to contain 1,4-DMAA alongside tianeptine, and Addall XR Shot in April, with 1,4-DMAA and phenibut.

How to avoid it

• Check labels for 1,3-dimethylamylamine, geranamine, methylhexanamine, 1,3-dimethylpentylamine, geranium extract and Pelargonium graveolens. Treat DMHA, octodrine and DMBA the same way.
• Prefer products with third-party certification for sport, which test for banned stimulants.
• Do not combine stimulant products, and avoid them before hard exercise in heat.
• If you have high blood pressure or heart disease, take stimulant medicines such as amphetamine or methylphenidate, or use decongestants, talk to your doctor or pharmacist before any pre-workout.

Chest pain, a pounding heart, a sudden severe headache, confusion or collapse after a stimulant supplement needs emergency care: call 911. For advice, call Poison Help at 1-800-222-1222 (US).

How we scored it

Regulatory actions (5) and product quality (15) are the weakest factors: courts confirmed DMAA is illegal in supplements, and spiked products and analogues keep appearing. Organ toxicity (25) reflects heart attacks, strokes and deaths in young adults. Dose safety (30) and interactions (35) are slightly higher because harm is clearest at high doses and when stacked with other stimulants.