Alexandria, VA—Dietary supplements were not responsible for any deaths in 2009, according to the U.S. National Poison Data System. The system is composed of data from 60 poison centers across the United States.

The American Association of Poison Control Centers published a 200-page annual report in the journal Clinical Toxicology, which showed that multivitamins, B vitamins, and vitamins A, C, D and E were not the cause of death in any Americans. Furthermore, amino acids, herbs and dietary mineral supplements did not cause any deaths.

The only two reported deaths by mineral poisoning were not caused by supplements. Instead, sodium salt poisoning and iron salt poisoning were to blame for these two deaths. 

More than 50% of Americans take nutritional supplements every day. If each of these people were to take only one pill daily, 57 billion pills would be taken per year. Taking into consideration some of the negative feedback that supplements have faced in the media, it is significant that no deaths resulted despite the extremely high number of doses being taken a year by the American public.

Published in WholeFoods Magazine, March 2011 (online 1/26/11)