10/23/2015
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently released a study that has received lots of attention!
HHS calculated the new national yearly estimate of 23,000 visits to emergency rooms involving dietary supplements.
Since there are an estimated 5,025 Emergency Rooms in the US, 23,000 visits amounts to ~4.6 incidents per year at each ER (or about 1 incident involving a dietary supplement approximately every 3 months).
What led these people to the ER? The study lists categories such as: intentional overdose in order to get faster diet or energy results, elderly choking on a pill, unsupervised ingestion by children under 4, not following manufacturer's recommended serving size, allergy to a product ingredient, and occasionally a faulty product, or a product containing a pharmaceutical drug
(not a supplement).
Although the title of the study included only the words "dietary supplements", the study actually included: skin creams (topical), products containing prescription drugs, eye drops, ear drops, and over the counter products.
Alliance for Natural Health mentioned, "One of HHS’s agencies, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), reports that there were actually only 3,249 supplement-related adverse event reports submitted, either from doctors or hospitals, to the FDA in 2012—a far cry from the 23,000 claimed in the study."
After all that, there is a good side to this story. Read the Nervia blog by clicking on the image below. Our founder explains the reasoning behind ethical and responsible supplement manufacturing.
Herbal manufacturer adds depth to the NBC story that quoted 23,000 ER visits caused by dietary supplements. Much of the story data is grossly incomplete.