Wansink B, van Ittersum K. Spoons systematically bias dosing of liquid medicine. Ann Intern Med. 2010;152:66-67.
Although the FDA recommends against people using kitchen utensils for dosing liquid medications, researchers say that most people still do. What one cutlery company may consider to be a "teaspoon" may in fact be a different measurement altogether and this may lead to either under- or overdosing of the medication. The findings of a new study to bring awareness to this issue is published in the January 2010 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Researchers took a group of 195 university students who were recently patients of the university health clinic during cold and flu season. The students were instructed to pour a 5 mL (one standard teaspoon) amount of liquid cold medicine into various sizes of kitchen spoons. The study determined that the students overpoured by 11.6% when using a larger spoon, and underpoured by 8.4% when using the medium-sized spoon.
Although these amounts may have minimal consequences on most people, sick children or adults who get the wrong doses several times a day for several days could experience a reaction.