According to a report in the International Journal of Clinical Practice, “teaspoons and tablespoons are unreliable dosing devices, and thus their use should no longer be recommended.”

These findings come from a study conducted in Greece examining the potential inaccuracies in administering the desired dose of drugs with teaspoons and tablespoons. Researchers collected all the different teaspoons/tablespoons that were available in 25 households in the Attica area of Greece and measured their volume capacity (ml). The following findings were reported.

• A total of 71 teaspoons and 49 tablespoons were provided by the 25 study participants.

• When these utensils were filled with water, the volume capacity of the 71 teaspoons and 49 tablespoons ranged from 2.5 to 7.3ml (mean and median volume 4.4ml).

• When the standardised teaspoon was used, the volume ranged from 3.9 to 4.9ml and when a subset of five study participants filled this teaspoon with paracetamol syrup, mean volume was 4.8ml.

The researchers conclude “teaspoons and tablespoons appear to be unreliable devices when measuring and administering liquid medication is considered, and especially to paediatric populations. As the performance of the study participants did not improve considerably when a teaspoon of a standardised volume capacity was used, the use of calibrated devices such as oral syringes is recommended for both measuring and administering liquid medication.”

An accompanying editorial notes that both instrument and the user are implicated in the challenge of accurate measurement, and concludes that “more science must be directed towards delivering liquid medication accurately to attain the goals of effective, trial-grade treatment.”