Using ordinary kitchen spoons for liquid medicines raises the risk of potentially dangerous dosing mistakes.

The usage of kitchen spoons in giving liquid medicines like cough syrup or cold medicine may lead to overdose or under dose.

Most people use kitchen spoons which the FDA has strongly opposed now and then. A study was held which included 195 university students, who were recent patients of the university health clinic. They were asked to pour 5 ml dose of cold medicine into various sizes of kitchen spoons so they could clearly visualize how much that amount would be.

The students were then asked to pour the same dose into a medium-sized tablespoon and a larger spoon. The confidence level of each was analyzed after each pour.

They overdosed by 11.6% when using the larger spoon and under dosed by 8.4% when using the medium-sized spoon, even though they were confident that their pouring was accurate in each case.

Using a measuring cap, dosing spoon, measuring dropper, or dosing syringe to dispense liquid medicine is much safer and much more effective than a kitchen spoon.