According to the most recent data collected by the U.S. National Poison Data System, there was not a single death caused by any natural supplement in 2013.
That means zero deaths from any amino acid, botanical, vitamin, or mineral, yet the mainstream media continues to warn consumers of the “dangers” of unregulated natural supplements. So where does this fear come from? Well, not from any scientific data.
As reported by the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, the U.S. 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.”
Risks of Pharmaceutical Drugs Outlined by Scary Statistics
When you compare this data to the number of deaths linked to pharmaceutical drugs each year, the difference is shocking.
In 2009, over 37,000 people reportedly died from pharmaceutical drugs (overdoses and other complications) and there were over 4.6 million drug-related ER visits, about half of which were due to adverse reactions.
Meanwhile, well over half of the U.S. population takes at least one nutritional supplement daily. That’s over 60 billion doses taken annually without any significant adverse effects.
So why are supplements singled out by the FDA when they have a solid track record of safety? We’re shaking our heads too – but it doesn’t seem to make sense to impose stricter regulations on natural supplements than pharmaceuticals, especially after you compare the health risk data.
The Real Danger Lies in Nutrient Deficiency – Obesity Linked to Lack of Micronutrients
Meanwhile, researchers are showing that obese individuals are consuming diets void in essential nutrients for overall health. Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 2001-2008, researchers discovered that while the majority of Americans lack adequate nutrients, obese adults consume about 5-12% less micronutrients than subjects in the healthy weight range.
This measures up to a dramatic deficiency, as over 67% of Americans are either overweight or obese. Clearly there is a huge nutrient gap in the U.S., especially when it comes to vitamins A, C, D, and E, calcium, magnesium, and potassium.
The study also found that supplement users across all three groups (normal, overweight, obese) had a lower prevalence of micronutrient deficiency compared to those who did not use dietary supplements.
The message? Multivitamins may be an essential key to narrowing the nutrition gap in the typical Western diet.