A new study has concluded that dietary supplements send 23,000 Americans to emergency rooms every year, but two associations representing the industry say the news headlines being generated by the research are misleading.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine estimated "that 23,000 people end up in the emergency room each year suffering from heart palpitations, chest pain, choking or other problems after ingesting dietary supplements. Most of those patients were young adults, children or the elderly," the Washington Post reported.

The newspaper noted that while supplements account for only 5 percent of ER visits involving pharmaceuticals, supplements are different in that the industry is largely unregulated. http://wapo.st/1LmxGNu

The Council for Responsible Nutrition—a dietary supplement industry association—argues such figures need to be placed in context. Duffy MacKay, CRN's senior vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs, said the 23,000 estimated cases account for less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the 150 million Americans who use dietary supplements.

"However, we do appreciate the elements of this study that present reasonable takeaways for the industry, and are pleased to confirm that companies are already responding to many of these suggestions made by the study authors," MacKay said. "For example, when it comes to risk of choking, there have been great innovations made to assist consumers who have trouble swallowing capsules and tablets."

Another supplement group, the Natural Products Association, was more aggressive in its criticism of the study. NPA challenged the methodology used by the study's authors to reach their conclusion, saying they relied on information collected from 64 emergency departments rather than official data collected by the Food and Drug Administration.

"The laws that regulate supplements require official reporting of adverse events so that the regulators, the health care community and others can review the data and make informed public policy decisions," NPA CEO Daniel Fabricant said. "This so-called study excludes that very data, which is more than puzzling because it was written in part by FDA officials who know this."

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