Dietary supplements hospitalize thousands yearly, study says
Dietary supplements send thousands of people to the emergency room each year, according to a new study.
The study, published in The New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday, found that at least 23,000 emergency room visits in the United States were the result of “adverse effects’’ related to the supplements.
Supplements for energy or weight-loss accounted for nearly three-fourths (71.8 percent) of the visits, many of which involved young adults. Two other problems identified were older people choking on the pills and children ingesting supplements purchased by adults.
The study is the first to look systematically at the side effects of supplements, a large industry that is mostly unregulated, according to a report by STAT.
“This study is the most important research that’s been published on supplements in the last 20 years,’’ said Pieter Cohen, a physician at Harvard Medical School who studies dietary supplements but wasn’t involved in the research.
Read a full analysis of the study by STAT here.
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com