Kitchen Spoons Inaccurate Dosing Tools
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When it comes to dosages of cold medicine, your kitchen spoons may not be measuring up. Using spoons to measure medicine may be causing you to under or overdose, according to new research in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
“Spoon dosing has been identified as 1 of the 3 major causes of dosing errors and pediatric poisonings,” authors of the study wrote. “Most persons still use spoons when pouring medicine for themselves and their families.”
Nearly 200 university students were asked to measure what they perceived to be equal amounts of cold medicine into three different spoons—a standard teaspoon, a medium-sized spoon, and a larger spoon.
“We first gave them a full bottle of cold medicine and a teaspoon and asked them to pour exactly 1 teaspoon (5 mL),” authors of the study explain. “Next, we asked participants to pour the same 5-mL dose into each of the remaining 2 spoons in a randomized order.”
Standard dosage for most cold medicines is usually between 2 teaspoons and 2 tablespoons. Although most participants were confident that they’d measured accurately, they measured 8.4 percent (.42 mL) too little when using the medium-sized spoon, and 11.6 percent (.58 mL) too much when using the large spoon.
Although that may not seem like much for per dose, a little change in medicine can make a lot of difference. According to study leader Dr. Brian Wansink of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab, this can add up to the point of ineffectiveness or even danger.
They also point out that this could reach farther than the kitchen at home. Even the most practiced nurse or Dr. Mom could be measuring incorrectly when using spoons because the size of the spoon makes the same amount appear differently.
“Simply put, we cannot always trust our ability to estimate amounts," co–author, Dr. Koert van Ittersum, Assistant Professor of Marketing at Georgia Tech, said in a press release. "In some cases it may not be important, but when it comes to the health of you or your child, it is vital to make an accurate measurement."
If the recommended dose on a bottle of allergy medicine is a teaspoon or tablespoon, lots of us reach in the kitchen drawer.
But kitchen spoons are notoriously inaccurate. "They can be way off," says physician Darren DeWalt of the University of North Carolina. Some kitchen teaspoons are twice as big as others, says DeWalt.
Even if you mean well, it's very easy to make a mistake. In theory, the little plastic "dosing" cups or droppers that come with medicine bottles should improve accuracy. But a study just published online by JAMA finds 98 percent of the top-selling 200 over-the-counter children's medications sold in 2009 came with confusing inconsistencies in dosing instructions.
A common mix-up: The instructions on the bottle give teaspoon measurements, but the dosing cup marks milliliters, or ml. And who remembers this conversion?
The Food and Drug Administration has issued draft guidelines aimed at making the instructions on over-the-counter medicines less confusing.
Many experts — including the lead author of the new research — say adopting one unit of measurement would be the best way to go. "If we could have milliliters be the only unit of measurement used, then I think this may be the best system," says researcher H. Shonna Yin of New York University School of Medicine.
The industry group that represents makers of over-the-counter kids' medications, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, says they've already made some progress in improving dosing instructions for parents.
They're moving closer to adopting consistent units of measurement, so that the directions on the bottle match the markings on the dosing device.
"It will take between now and next year to fully implement the guidelines," says CHPA's Barbara Kochanowski. So far, the group hasn't committed to a milliliter-only system.
These changes may seem small, but UNC's DeWalt, who wrote an accompanying editorial for JAMA, argues that they're important. He says deaths from overdoses of over-the-counter medicines are fairly rare. But think about potent allergy medicines. "If I was to give my child too much Benadryl, it would pretty much knock them out," DeWalt says.
DeWalt argues that pharmaceutical companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars bringing products to market, but they don't spend very much money explaining to parents how to give this medicine to kids.
"I think a little more attention to this could provide a safer environment," he says. And maybe help parents — and kids — sleep a little easier.
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Comments
Ditch the teaspoon for measuring medicines!
Surely the simplest way to deal with the problem of teaspoons is to abolish them for medicines and replace them with measuring glasses marked in millilitres. Instead of saying "Take a teaspoon of whatever" write "Take 5ml - or whatever ml of cough medicine." This change could be publicised throughout the country and that could be the end of it. We use such medicine glasses in Australia without any problem.
Always Metric
When I measure medicinal doses, I use the tiny plastic cup that comes with the medicine whereby I rely on the millimeters listed on the cup rather than using spoons because at my home, there are varying sizes of spoons. I am supporter of metrication so I only read weather in the metric system but converting from millimeters to teaspoons is hard so I don''t bother with that. However, I do know how to convert metric speed limits from 40 km/h to 130 km/h into the American system of measurement. I have sent the letter to the Senators but they didn't directly respond to that letter but gave a much more general response. If I were an elected official, I would introduce a metrication bill which would be flexible enough that people would be alright with that. Anyway, on to the article, it's important to measure medicinal doses correctly because as said on the article, a few millimeters too much or too little can be noticed by the body. Medicinal companies should stop putting doses in teaspoons and instead encourage people to buy a dosage cup, if they don't already have one, in the metric system and with that, medicinal companies will be alright with only putting doses in millimeters or centiliters.
An Article From my Blog
Typed by Edwin
The metric system is also called the System of International Measurements because it is the dominant system of measurement on our planet. It is good that the metric system is dominant because it is efficient. Unlike the American system of measurement, the metric system uses 10 as a base. 1,000 grams is one kilogram and one milliliter is one thousandth of a liter. In the American system of measurement, converting inches to feet takes too much work. One mile is 5,280 feet. I know that conversions between those units will take two minutes. Although the United States hasn’t fully adopted the metric system, the countries we trade with rightfully expect the metric system to be used in exports and imports. Trade is not the only expectation. Driving from Michigan to Ontario or from Texas to Tamaulipas involves obeying a metric speed limit. I have read a news article of an American man accidently breaking the speed limit in Canada because he thought that the speed limit was in miles per hour. He drove extremely fast. If the United States completed metrication, there would be kilometer per hour speed limit signs, packages would only be in the metric system, temperature would be read in Celsius and weight would be read in kilograms.
In 2011, no one will probably know when the United States completes metrication because Ronald Regan stopped it. In the 1980s, political ideologies showed their view of the metric system. Conservatives sided against metrication and liberals for metrication. In that decade, metrication slowed down in Canada, the United Kingdom and in the United States. The impact can still be felt in the U.S. I support the United States Metric Association but if you check its website in two years, you will probably see that the website’s content has changed little. It’s good that the USMA exists, but since the movement for fully adopting the metric system is small, the USMA has little power. If you are a supporter of the metric system, then you have probably read an article by an Australian man who thought that Barack Obama would re-start metrication. This is not a criticism of him. To get metrication started again, a strong movement is a must. Over time, we find out that traditions may lose their justification. We shouldn’t be stuck to a particular tradition only because it is part of culture. Racists in the 1960s used the sake of tradition to justify segregation. Homophobes in this century have used the sake of tradition to vote against same-sex marriage in referendums. A strong movement is needed to overcome challenges.
For people who support the metric system, let’s get the United States in sync with the rest of the world. I think that it can still be said that conservatives don’t like the metric system while liberals are open-minded. I am a liberal. There are people who think that if the U.S. was to entirely adopt the metric system, that we would lose a big part of our culture. Wrong! The metric system was created to make measuring efficient and to make conversions between units easier. Since the metric system is the dominant system of measurement in most countries, the U.S. and other countries which haven’t made it dominant should do so. If the U.S. was to adopt the metric system like New Zealand has, we could export easier. Food packaging would be understood by more people since they would only be in metric. Lumber would be measured in meters and centimeters. Car companies could export easier because one assembly line for a car model would increase efficiency. All of this would increase trade. Although some people believe that the cause for metrication is useless, they shouldn’t be so pessimistic because metrication would bring many benefits.