American Prescription Drug Use More Than Doubles [1]

Julie Fidler, Natural Society [2]
Waking Times

Rises to nearly 60%

More Americans take prescription medications than ever before – nearly 60% – and obesity could be to blame.

A new study [3] published in JAMA shows that the number of people taking prescription drugs increased from 51% of the adult population in 1999 to 59% in 2011. Cholesterol and blood pressure drugs are the most-used medications in the U.S. [1]

In fact, the most popular drug in the country is Zocor [4], a cholesterol-lowering statin drug [5]. Also known as simvastatin, the medication is used by 8% of the U.S. population.

Additionally, the number of people taking 5 or more prescriptions in a month has doubled to nearly 15%. [2]