Study finds dietary supplements lead to 20000 hospital visits each year

Based on surveys, about 50 percent of adults in America consumed at least one dietary supplement in the past month. To be more precise, a study conducted by the government body has estimated that dietary supplements are causing as many as 23,000 ER visits every year. In 2012, there were more than 55,000 products available in the market.

In the study – published October 14 in the New England Journal Medicine – the researchers said that more than twenty percent of the visits to the emergency room involved unsupervised children who swallowed dietary supplements, and nearly thirty percent of the cases involved adults ages 20 to 34.

As reported by CBC News, the biggest troublemakers in the market are weight loss supplements or products that lead to increased energy that are major contributors to ER visits.

Meanwhile, Geller provided several guidelines on taking supplements safely, such as consulting a physician first before trying a new product, keeping supplements away from the sight and reach of young children and monitoring individuals who might choke on certain forms. Symptoms most commonly seen on the data gathered were chest pains and heart palpitations.

Between 2004 and 2013, about 3,700 people visited in emergency room in the 63 hospitals, and 400 received hospitalisation.

The study pointed out that although the US Food and Drug Administration is tasked with overseeing supplements, “neither safety testing nor FDA approval is required before the marketing of dietary supplements”. Researchers tracked E.R. visits at a large network of hospitals over a ten-year period. A Houston doctor says parents need to keep a close eye on what the kids are taking. The researchers have even studied side effects from the supplements from pharmaceuticals. The study’s authors found that a relatively small portion of that number actually are sickened by the products, far fewer than from illnesses stemming from prescription drug use.

The research did not track any deaths that might have been linked to supplement use. Federal regulators finally banned ephedra in 2004.

While there is no magic pill for weight loss, many people still try diet pills, and instead of losing weight, they’re ending up in the ER.