Beware Kitchen Spoons

Parents who use kitchen spoons to measure medicine risk poisoning their kids.

It sounds like a commonsense statement, but researchers at Cornell University found that people who are confident about measuring the right amount of cold or cough syrup often get it wrong. In a test of 195 people, the study participants poured, on average, 12 percent too much medicine. Those who under-poured missed the mark by 8 percent on average. The findings are published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Using the wrong-size spoon is one of the top three causes of dosing errors and poisoning in children, the researchers say. Despite the Food and Drug Administration's recommendation that kitchen spoons should not be used for medicine, 70 percent of people still use them, researchers say.

The over-the-counter drug business is a $20 billion industry dominated by major companies like Pfizer Inc. and Novartis AG. The warning label on Pfizer's Children's Robitussin Cough and Cold says to measure in teaspoons. The medicine also comes with a dosage cup.

The Cornell researchers encouraged people to use dosing spoons, measuring caps or a syringes.

"Twelve percent more may not sound like a lot, but this goes on every four to eight hours for up to four days," says study leader Brian Wansink, director of the Cornell Food and Brand Lab. "So it really adds up—to the point of ineffectiveness or even danger."