One in six Americans taking a prescription drug is also taking one or more herbal or dietary supplements, raising concerns about the possibility of adverse interactions.
Overall, more than 80% of adults in the US take some type of medication in any given week with half taking a prescription drug.
About 7% of the population takes five or more prescription drugs in any given week and 25% take five or more of any type of drug, including prescription drugs, over-the-counter pain relievers and cold remedies, herbal supplements like ginkgo biloba or St. John's wort and vitamin and mineral supplements.
Adverse reactions to drugs are among the leading causes of hospitalization and death in this country.
JAMA January 16, 2002;287:337-334
This study was done to find out the incidence of herbs taken in those who take prescription drugs. However, it provides some amazing statistics on the numbers of adults who are taking drugs.
Americans spent nearly $150 billion dollars on these drugs last year. That is no small amount of change. This enormous revenue can fund massive media campaigns to get them to consume even more.
The sad tragedy is that vast majority of these drugs are doing absolutely nothing to address the cause of the problem. They are merely symptomatic band-aids which increases the dependency the population has on the drug companies.
It is the goal of this newsletter to make the reader independently healthy so they don't have to rely on these drugs or even most supplements to stay healthy.
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