'It is our duty': AMA adopts several new public health policies

Key takeaways:

• A new AMA policy seeks to raise awareness of high-dose biotin supplements interfering with lab tests.
• Other public health policies adopted include cybersecurity relief, youth e-cigarette access and more.

The AMA House of Delegates adopted several new policies to promote public health at its annual meeting.

One such policy advocated for heightened awareness of high-dose biotin supplements interfering in laboratory tests.

In recent years, the use of over-the-counter biotin supplements for nail and hair growth “has grown exponentially,” according to a press release. Although the FDA’s recommended daily allowance for biotin is 30 µg per day for adults, most daily doses of biotin supplements on the market exceed the recommendation, typically ranging anywhere from 600 to 10,000 µg.

Consuming high doses of biotin has not yet been associated with negative health effects, but in 2017, the FDA released a safety warning that high-dosage biotin supplementation might interfere with laboratory test accuracy, including inaccurately low troponin levels, which could lead to delayed or missed diagnoses of heart attack.

So, aiming to raise both physician and patient awareness of the possible interactions, the AMA House of Delegates adopted a new policy that bolsters efforts to include clear disclaimers on the bottles of over-the-counter biotin supplements.

“With a proliferation of biotin supplements on the market promoting hair and nail growth, it is our duty to ensure all patients, and their physicians, are aware of the potential for these supplements to interfere in a variety of laboratory tests,” Alexander Ding, MD, MS, MBA, an AMA board member, said in the release. “For example, not recognizing the interaction of biotin with a troponin lab test can have serious health consequences, such as falsely underdetecting an active heart attack.”

The other public health policies the House of Delegates adopted were advocating for:

• improved health care for underrepresented populations in rural areas;
• tobacco-selling stores posting antismoking hotline information;
• reducing youth e-cigarette access;
• regulating all nicotine analogue products, like 6-methyl nicotine; and
• a cybersecurity relief fund.