No Deaths from Vitamins in 27 years-Poison Control Reports

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, June 14, 2011

No Deaths from Vitamins - None at All in 27 Years

Commentary by W. Saul and Jagan N. Vaman, M.D.

(OMNS, June 14, 2011) Over a twenty-seven year period, vitamin supplements

have been alleged to have caused the deaths of a total of eleven people in

the United States. A new analysis of US poison control center annual

report data indicates that there have, in fact, been no deaths whatsoever from

vitamins . . . none at all, in the 27 years that such reports have been

available.

The American Association of Poison Control Centers (AAPCC) attributes

annual deaths to vitamins as: 2009: zero

2008: zero

2007: zero

2006: one

2005: zero

2004: two

2003: two

2002: one

2001: zero 2000: zero

1999: zero

1998: zero

1997: zero

1996: zero

1995: zero

1994: zero

1993: one

1992: zero 1991: two

1990: one

1989: zero

1988: zero

1987: one

1986: zero

1985: zero

1984: zero

1983: zero

Even if these figures are taken as correct, and even if they include

intentional and accidental misuse, the number of alleged vitamin fatalities is

strikingly low, averaging less than one death per year for over two and a

half decades. In 19 of those 27 years, AAPCC reports that there was not one

single death due to vitamins. [1]

Still, the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service Editorial Board was

curious: Did eleven people really die from vitamins? And if so, how?

Vitamins Not THE Cause of Death

In determining cause of death, AAPCC uses a four-point scale called

Relative Contribution to Fatality (RCF). A rating of 1 means " Undoubtedly

Responsible " ; 2 means " Probably Responsible " ; 3 means " Contributory " ; and 4

means

" Probably Not Responsible. " In examining poison control data for the year

2006, listing one vitamin death, it was seen that the vitamin's Relative

Contribution to Fatality (RCF) was a 4. Since a score of " 4 " means " Probably

Not Responsible, " it quite negates the claim that a person died from a

vitamin in 2006.

Vitamins Not A Cause of Death

In the other seven years reporting one or more of the remaining ten

alleged vitamin fatalities, studying the AAPCC reports reveals an absence of

any

RCF rating for vitamins in any of those years. If there is no Relative

Contribution to Fatality at all, then the substance did not contribute to death

at all.

Furthermore, in each of those remaining seven years, there is no

substantiation provided to demonstrate that any vitamin was a cause of death.

If there is insufficient information about the cause of death to make a

clear-cut declaration of cause, then subsequent assertions that vitamins

cause deaths are not evidence-based. Although vitamin supplements have often

been blamed for causing fatalities, there is no evidence to back up this

allegation.

References:

1. Download any Annual Report of the American Association of Poison

Control Centers from 1983-2009 free of charge at

_http://www.aapcc.org/dnn/NPDSPoisonData/NPDSAnnualReports.aspx_

(http://www.cihfimediaservices.org/12all/lt.php?c=153 & m=230 & nl=3 & s=8055c58c1bc02\

ffe1e64d8e5ce2f0ac6 & lid=1378 & l=-http--ww

w.aapcc.org/dnn/NPDSPoisonData/NPDSAnnualReports.aspx) The " Vitamin "

category is usually near the very end of the report.

Most recent year: Bronstein AC, Spyker DA, Cantilena LR Jr, Green JL,

Rumack BH, Giffin SL. 2009 Annual Report of the American Association of Poison

Control Centers' National Poison Data System (NPDS): 27th Annual Report.

Clinical Toxicology (2010). 48, 979-1178. The full text article is available

for free download at _http://www.aapcc.org/dnn/Portals/0/2009%20AR.pdf_

(http://www.cihfimediaservices.org/12all/lt.php?c=153 & m=230 & nl=3 & s=8055c58c1bc02

ffe1e64d8e5ce2f0ac6 & lid=1379 & l=-http--www.aapcc.org/dnn/Portals/0/2009%20AR.

pdf)

The vitamin data mentioned above will be found in Table 22B.

Nutritional Medicine is Orthomolecular Medicine

Orthomolecular medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight

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Editorial Review Board:

Ian Brighthope, M.D. (Australia)

Ralph K. , M.D. (USA)

Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D. (Canada)

Damien Downing, M.D. (United Kingdom)

Ellis, M.D. (Australia)

P. Gallagher, M.D., D.C. (USA)

, D.Sc., Ph.D. (Puerto Rico)

B. Grant, Ph.D. (USA)

Steve Hickey, Ph.D. (United Kingdom)

A. , Ph.D. (USA)

Bo H. Jonsson, M.D., Ph.D. (Sweden)

Levy, M.D., J.D. (USA)

R. Miranda-Massari, Pharm.D. (Puerto Rico)

Paterson, M.D. (Canada)

W. Todd Penberthy, Ph.D. (USA)

Gert E. Shuitemaker, Ph.D. (Netherlands)

Jagan Vamanan, M.D. (India)

W. Saul, Ph.D. (USA), Editor and contact person. Email:

_omns@..._ (mailto:omns@...)

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