Dietary supplements are poisoning more people

Speakers: Li Ningjing and Sam Duckett

[Photo: from Baidu.com]

Because vitamins and supplements are available over the counter, it doesn't mean they're risk-free: From 2005 to 2012, the rate of supplement-related calls to poison control centers increased by 49 percent, a study in the Journal of Medical Toxicology found.

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ban on the botanical ma juang (known as ephedra), which was linked to heart attack and stroke.

Only about 5 percent of the calls resulted in serious medical outcomes, and the majority of them were in small children. Energy products and botanicals had the highest proportion of any category for leading to severe outcomes.

The audio clip is from Studio+, produced by CRI.