A federal appeals court has upheld a ban on the weight loss supplement ephedra issued by the Food and Drug Administration. The Colorado court’s decision overturned a ruling by a judge in Utah that temporarily overturned the ephedra ban.

Ephedra, also known as ma huang, was marketed as a supplement for weight loss and sports performance. Some supplements containing ephedra were marketed as “herbal Fen Phen” after the diet drug combination was taken off of the market in September 1997.

After recent studies found that supplements containing ephedrine, which include ephedra, could raise the risk of serious and potentially deadly cardiovascular side effects, the FDA banned the sale of ephedra in April 2004. The agency warned that no amount of ephedra was safe for consumers.

In April 2005, a judge in Utah overturned the FDA’s ephedra ban, stating that the agency could not restrict the sale of supplements containing 10mg or less of ephedra. However, the Colorado appeals court overturned that decision, stating that the FDA was correct in ruling that no amount of ephedra was safe and that the agency had the authority to take the diet supplement off of the market.