Staying Healthy
Good intentions, perilous results
Certain supplements can skew the accuracy of lab tests. How can you protect yourself?
- Reviewed by Toni Golen, MD, Editor in Chief, Harvard Women's Health Watch; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing; Contributor, and
- Hope Ricciotti, MD, Editor at Large, Harvard Women's Health Watch
Here's a frightening scenario: you're in the emergency room with symptoms strongly suggesting a heart attack. But a widely used test that looks for a protein in the bloodstream called troponin — which indicates heart muscle damage — says heart attack isn't the cause.
Except it is, and your test was wrong — all because of a supplement called biotin.
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About the Author
Maureen Salamon, Executive Editor, Harvard Women's Health Watch
About the Reviewers
Toni Golen, MD, Editor in Chief, Harvard Women's Health Watch; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing; Contributor
Hope Ricciotti, MD, Editor at Large, Harvard Women's Health Watch
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