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posted by mrpg on Sunday August 12 2018, @09:37AM   Printer-friendly
from the why? dept.

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

[...] The use of various OTC drugs and dietary supplements is highly prevalent in Europe and patients are often not willing to disclose this information to laboratory staff and the ordering physician as a survey published in Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, published by De Gruyter in association with the European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (EFLM), shows.

The study reports on the results of a survey of patients in 18 European countries which shows that those taking OTC products and dietary supplements are not aware of the potential effects on laboratory test results they may have. In addition, patients do not believe that they need to disclose this use to medical and/or laboratory staff.

The study shows that dietary supplements and OTC drugs are more frequently used by middle-aged patients -- especially women -- with the most common being multivitamins, multiminerals, cranberry and aspirin. All of these compounds, if consumed shortly before blood sampling, may cause changes in lab test results, thus leading to interpretation difficulties and possibly incorrect diagnoses.

Source: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180810091520.htm


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  • (Score: 2) by requerdanos on Sunday August 12 2018, @08:16PM (1 child)

    by requerdanos (5997) Subscriber Badge on Sunday August 12 2018, @08:16PM (#720672) Journal

    Perhaps the odd separate category in TFA here is because there's been debate in the EU over whether cranberries can be a "health supplement"

    Perhaps so, and makes perfect sense.

    From a realistic perspective, however, if you eat a lot of cranberries...if you eat a lot of dried or juiced cranberries...if you eat dehydrated cranberries in lorry-load lots sixteen times a day...then I would say you have perhaps an unusual amount of the food "cranberries" in your diet, but cranberries are a food and as such by definition if consumed, are part of your diet--they can't be a dietary "supplement" because that's by definition something beyond or in addition to your "diet", your diet being by definition "the foods you eat", in this case, mostly cranberries.

    An advertising pitch to increase the consumption rate of a certain food in a certain food in your diet by calling it a "health supplement" is probably just a play on the word "supplement" and its sometimes-healthy connotations.

    Attention health nuts: You cannot add your diet to your diet.

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  • (Score: 2) by AthanasiusKircher on Monday August 13 2018, @03:41AM

    by AthanasiusKircher (5291) on Monday August 13 2018, @03:41AM (#720817) Journal

    Note that TFA doesn't say "cranberries"; it says "cranberry." To me, that sounds like an adjective describing things like supplements, not necessary literal cranberries in their original form. And perhaps my previous post was unclear, but I'm pretty sure those trying to market cranberries as a "medical device" aren't predominantly selling raw cranberries, but likely concentrated supplements made from them.