Australian authorities have banned a sports supplement ingredient popular with body builders because of concerns it could have lethal side-effects.

The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has banned the sale, supply and use of the chemical DMAA and has included the chemical in appendix C of the poisons standard.

DMAA is a stimulant sometimes used in pre-workout sports supplements and "party pills" to give athletes the feeling of extra energy or an adrenaline-like high.

It has been linked to side-effects including high blood pressure, headaches, vomiting, stroke and death.

The TGA's Dr John Skerritt says supplements are generally combined into so-called sports food for body builders to bulk themselves up, or to increase their muscle mass.

"The substance itself increases their heart rate and gives them a bit of a high after they use it," he said.

"And while it is not addictive, the problems that it causes by increasing the heart rate has led to a number of emergency-room presentations and suspected deaths.

"If taken in very high levels it can be quite dangerous and one of the challenges is that clearly people buy large containers of these sports food products, especially in New Zealand.

"In parties, people have been consuming literally soup bowls full of it like a porridge and in the US there has been a couple of cases of US Army staff who died through heart attack after exercising and consuming a large amount of these products," Dr Skerritt said.

But he says the product will be removed from Australian shelves by next week.

"We published the decision this morning and the way it works is the implementation date is one week later, Wednesday the 8th of August," he said.

"Then it is for the states and territories to have to actually formally implement the ban."

Stocking up

Dr Skerritt is concerned by reports some companies selling supplements online that contain DMAA are urging people to buy as much as possible before the ban is enforced.

"It clearly is not good advice and once the implementation on the 8th of August happens it will actually be prohibited," he said.

"My personal view would be that I wouldn't be recommending people to take these substances."

He says people who have supplements can check if their product contains DMAA.

"There is a range of product names that were put out by our colleagues in the Foods Standards Australia New Zealand agency," he said.

"They actually described a range of brands that tested positive for DMAA and they have some pretty quaint names - Noxy Pump, 3D Explosion, Beta-Cret, Pre Surge, 1 MR, Cryoshock, Jack 3D, Mesomorph, Neurocore, Oxyelite and Hemo Range Black.

"But if people go to the Food Standards website, they'll actually see a list of the products that have been tested and shown to contain DMAA."

New Zealand banned DMAA in April this year, while the US food and drug administration banned the sale of supplements containing the chemical late last year.

The US defence department suspected it contributed to the deaths of two soldiers who collapsed during fitness training.

But Dr Skerritt does not believe Australia was slow to act.

"We had a process in place early in the year to consider this and for every potential banning of a substance there is a committee that review them," he said.

"That takes evidence both from people, for example in the medical fraternity, who are concerned about the effects of the substance and they also take into account evidence from industry, including the body-building industry, some of whom submitted statements in support of continuing open availability.

"So we have to follow through due process but having started to make the decision early in the year it is now mid-year and a decision has been made.

"It is important that there is appropriate process where people can argue both sides."