Hospitalizations from ‘natural’ supplement have shot up 1,150%, docs warn

Hospitalizations from ‘natural’ supplement have shot up 1,150%, docs warn

You might want to leaf this drug alone. A new study found that calls to the nation’s poison centers about a natural supplement marketed as an energy booster, mood lifter and pain reliever have soared more than 1,200% over the past decade. Hospitalizations, and even some deaths, have climbed in tandem, leaving health experts sounding … Read more

Beware: Synthetic kratom — 7-OH — is powering a new opioid crisis

Beware: Synthetic kratom — 7-OH  — is powering a new opioid crisis

Vape shops are popping up in every neighborhood in America, but few people — even doctors — know that many of these shops are selling a dangerous new opioid. It’s concentrated 7-OH, a synthetic byproduct of the kratom plant that binds strongly to the body’s opioid receptors — making it up to 13 times more … Read more

Calls for federal regulation of kratom mount as natural remedy linked to rising overdoses

Calls for federal regulation of kratom mount as natural remedy linked to rising overdoses

As the U.S. weathers its fourth wave of the opioid epidemic crisis, more people are turning to non-opioids — including a natural remedy known as kratom — to combat their pain. Yet medical examiners and coroners have found that kratom caused 1.5% to 1.7% of overdose deaths between Jan. 2020 and Dec. 2022.  That’s according to … Read more

‘My mom thought kratom was healthy. It killed her’: Fears over growing toll of ‘health supplement’

‘My mom thought kratom was healthy. It killed her’: Fears over growing toll of ‘health supplement’

Krystal Talavera thought she was drinking a healthy supplement to her morning coffee. But the supplement she was taking, kratom, killed the registered nurse, a mother of four, from respiratory failure brought on by opioid-like effects. Her death is the latest involving the herbal substance, which is widely sold at gas stations and online despite … Read more