Are Medications Harming Your Health? Hidden Inactive Ingredients

Would you ever imagine that your medications, whether prescription or over the counter (OTC), could make you sick?

A recent study published in Science Translational Magazine revealed that 92.8% of oral solid dosage medications contain at least one inactive ingredient that is a potential allergen[1]. Researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brigham and Women’s Hospital analyzed the inactive ingredients in more than 42,000 oral medications and found that inactive ingredients may play more of an active role than we previously thought.

Inactive ingredients are components of a medication intended to facilitate absorption, improve stability, taste and appearance, or preserve the active ingredient. On average, an oral medication contains 8.8 inactive ingredients. While inactive ingredients are necessary components of a medication, not all ingredients play a harmless role. In fact, researchers found that 45% of medications contain lactose, 55% contain at least one FODMAP, or hard-to-digest sugar, and 33% contain a chemical food dye.

Why is this important?

First, oral medications are the most common form of prescription and over-the-counter medicines consumed today. Four out of five US adults use over-the-counter (OTC) medications as a first response to minor ailments and make an average of 26 trips to the pharmacy each year to purchase medications[2].