The Perils of Pills: Study Cites Lightly Regulated Supplement Industry as Cause of 23,000 Emergency Department Visits a Year

Abstract

mericans first began receiving multivitamins in the 1940s to Abolster their nutritional intake, and for a long time the vitamin industry remained relatively sedate. But since the mid-1990s, the nutritional supplement industry has expanded rapidly from the basic vitamins into all manner of chemical compounds, some of which have toxic consequences for human beings. However, the effect of the supplement industry on emergency medicine has been poorly documented until very recently, when studies began appearing to document adverse events related to supplements. Most notably, medical researchers with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), led by Andrew Geller, MD, published a study in October in the New England Journal Medicine that offered an overview of this topic. Funded by the Department of Health and Human Services, the study found that an estimated 23,000 emergency department (ED) visits in the United States each year were attributable to adverse events related to dietary supplements. The most common cases in young adults were cardiovascular problems caused by weight loss and energy products, whereas among older adults