NO DEATHS FROM ANY DIETARY SUPPLEMENT: US POISON DATA SYSTEM

The recently published annual report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers indicates no deaths from dietary supplements in 2013. The annual report was published in the journal Clinical Toxicology and was based on information collected by the US National Poison Data System (NPDS).

The report also indicated no deaths from any amino acid product or herbal product.

The full text of the January 16, 2015 press release obtained from the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service (OMNS) follows. ~

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, January 16, 2015

No Deaths from ANY Dietary Supplement

Zero Fatalities from Minerals, Vitamins, Amino Acids, Herbs, Homeopathic Remedies

by Andrew W. Saul, Editor

(OMNS Jan 16, 2015) There was not even one death caused by any dietary supplement in 2013, according to the most recent information collected by the US National Poison Data System. The new 251-page annual report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers, published in the journal Clinical Toxicology (1), shows no deaths whatsoever from any dietary supplement.

Additionally, there were zero deaths from any amino acid or herbal product. This means no deaths at all from blue cohosh, echinacea, ginkgo biloba, ginseng, kava kava, St. John’s wort, valerian, yohimbe, Asian medicines, ayurvedic medicines, or any other botanical. There were zero deaths from creatine, blue-green algae, glucosamine, chondroitin, melatonin, or any homeopathic remedy.

Furthermore, there were zero deaths from any dietary mineral supplement. This means there were no fatalities from calcium, magnesium, chromium, zinc, colloidal silver, selenium, iron, or multimineral supplements. Reported in the “Electrolyte and Mineral” category were two fatalities from the medical use of “Sodium and sodium salts.” These are not dietary supplements.

The US National Poison Data System is “the only comprehensive, near real-time, poisoning surveillance database in the United States. In 2013, poison professionals at the nation’s 55 poison centers managed about 2.2 million human poison exposures, with children younger than 6 accounting for about half of all poison exposure cases.”

No man, woman or child died from any nutritional supplement. Period.

If nutritional supplements are allegedly so “dangerous,” as the FDA, the news media, and even some physicians still claim, then where are the bodies?

References:

1. Mowry JB, Spyker DA, Cantilena LR Jr, McMillan N, Ford M. 2013 Annual Report of the American Association of Poison Control Centers’ National Poison Data System (NPDS): 31st Annual Report. Clinical Toxicology (2014), 52, p 1032-1283. ISSN: 1556-3650 print / 1556-9519 online. DOI: 10.3109/15563650.2014.987397.

The full text article is available for free download at http://www.aapcc.org/annual-reports/ . Minerals, herbs, amino acids and other supplements are in table 22B, pages 1247-1249.

2. http://www.aapcc.org/press/38/

Nutritional Medicine is Orthomolecular Medicine

Orthomolecular medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight illness. For more information: http://www.orthomolecular.org

Find a Doctor

To locate an orthomolecular physician near you: http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v06n09.shtml

The peer-reviewed Orthomolecular Medicine News Service is a non-profit and non-commercial informational resource.

Editorial Review Board:

Ian Brighthope, M.D. (Australia)
Ralph K. Campbell, M.D. (USA)
Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D. (USA)
Damien Downing, M.D. (United Kingdom)
Michael Ellis, M.D. (Australia)
Martin P. Gallagher, M.D., D.C. (USA)
Michael Gonzalez, D.Sc., Ph.D. (Puerto Rico)
William B. Grant, Ph.D. (USA)
Michael Janson, M.D. (USA)
Robert E. Jenkins, D.C. (USA)
Bo H. Jonsson, M.D., Ph.D. (Sweden)
Peter H. Lauda, M.D. (Austria)
Thomas Levy, M.D., J.D. (USA)
Stuart Lindsey, Pharm.D. (USA)
Jorge R. Miranda-Massari, Pharm.D. (Puerto Rico)
Karin Munsterhjelm-Ahumada, M.D. (Finland)
Erik Paterson, M.D. (Canada)
W. Todd Penberthy, Ph.D. (USA)
Gert E. Schuitemaker, Ph.D. (Netherlands)
Robert G. Smith, Ph.D. (USA)
Jagan Nathan Vamanan, M.D. (India)
Atsuo Yanagisawa, M.D., Ph.D. (Japan)

Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D. (USA), Editor and contact person. Email: omns@orthomolecular.org. This is a comments-only address; OMNS is unable to respond to individual reader emails. However, readers are encouraged to write in with their viewpoints. Reader comments become the property of OMNS and may or may not be used for publication.

To Subscribe at no charge: http://www.orthomolecular.org/subscribe.html

OMNS archive: http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/index.shtml

===

Read this press release on supplement safety on the OMNS website: http://www.orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v11n02.shtml

US National Poison Data System (NPDS): http://www.aapcc.org/data-system/

Annual Reports of the American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC): http://www.aapcc.org/annual-reports/

Journal of Clinical Toxicology: http://omicsonline.org/clinical-toxicology.php