Using kitchen spoons to measure liquid medicines can lead to taking the wrong dose, with potentially dangerous consequences, a new study suggests.
Although medical experts recommend other means to dispense liquid medicines, many people still use regular spoons, says lead author Brian Wansink, director of the Food and Brand Lab at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.
For the study, the researchers recruited 195 university students to gauge their measuring abilities. The volunteers were first shown a 5-millilitre dose of a cold medication. They were then asked to pour an equivalent amount of liquid into kitchen spoons of different sizes. They exceeded the recommended dose by an average of 11.6 per cent when using a large spoon, and underdosed by 8.4 per cent with a medium-sized spoon, according to the findings published in Annals of Internal Medicine.
These errors may not seem like a big deal, but they can add up when a medication is taken several times a day for an extended period, Dr. Wansink said. And those mistakes could be particularly harmful for young children. "You can be unknowingly giving your kids too much or too little medicine simply based on the spoon you happen to grab out of the utensil drawer."
He noted that a wide range of children's medicines - from antibiotics to anti-inflammatories - often come in liquid form because it's easier to swallow than a pill.
Dr. Wansink suggested people should use the measuring cap that's often supplied with liquid medicines, or buy a syringe or proper dosing spoon from a pharmacy.