AlkaSeltzer neutralizes stomach acid with a combination of dry ingredients (sodium bicarbonate and citric acid) that 'fizzes' when plop-plopped into a glass of water.

Tums ®, Rolaids, Dicarbosil, Titralac, and other calcium-based products use a different ingredient - calcium carbonate (also known as chalk) - as the alkalizer (the buffering agent).

Antacids 'buffer' normal stomach acids. That means,

Antacids reduce the strength of the stomach acid to a level where the stomach acid no longer works.

Tums ® replaced Alka-Seltzer as the leading antacid decades ago.

Apparently it was decided to advertise that the 'sodium' part of 'sodium bicarbonate' was a problem ("too much sodium can be bad for you"), but that the calcium in calcium carbonate was okay. Television is a powerful medium, and so chalky tablets became number one in the marketplace.

H2 blockers and proton pump inhibitors behave in a different fashion, actively blocking the acid from being produced in the first place, but more hazardous because of the longer-lasting effects they have.

Regarding the interuption of normal digestion, though, the effects are the same; no stomach acid = abnormal stomach function.

---

Osteo-Update
Free eNewsletter

---

Guyton's Physiology is the text used by every medical student in the world to learn how the body works.

Dr. Guyton explains that stomach acid starts out as pH 0.8 - the number is important, and what it means is that stomach acid is as strong as the acid in your car's battery.

Dr. Guyton tells us the purpose of stomach acid is to digest our food. This includes protein as well as minerals, like calcium, magnesium, and all the others.

One of these proteins in our food is collagen, the extremely strong, tough connective tissue of meat, which requires the strongest acidity to break it down.

Pepsin, the enzyme that digests protein, works very well in the strong acid normally found in the stomach. Pepsin digests our food until it reaches pH5 (that means the acid has become weaker). At that point, pepsin stops working.

This brings us to the conflict between antacids and osteoporosis in human beings.

---

Acid indigestion or gastric reflux may be related to a
digestive system that is clogged and doesn't work right.

---

Antacids change the pH of the stomach acid - make the acid weaker - and quickly.

So pepsin and other enzymes that require the strong acid of the digestive juices to function are suddenly shut down shortly after a person takes an antacid product.

When the acidity goes away, the normal digestive processes no longer work.

This neutralizing of the acid relieve one's symptoms, at the expense of destroying the nutritional value of the meal you had eaten.

So, we know that artificially reducing the normal stomach acid makes one feel better, but it disturbs the body's ability to digest and absorb the nutrients in the food.

---

Severe GERD? MUST DO!
Sensitive Digestion Formula
Help your gut begin to function normally,
from the first bite of food to the efficient elimination of waste,
as nature intended.

---

Dr. Guyton puts it like this:

"Consequently, in people who lack peptic activity in the stomach, the ingested meats are less well penetrated by the digestive enzymes and, therefore, may be poorly digested." (Guyton - Text of Medical Physiology, 1994 pg 833.)

The conclusions are simple:

• We require stomach acid for digestion in preparation for the absorption process.
• Antacids neutralize the stomach acid, stopping the digestive process.
• The ability of the body to absorb nutrients from the meal that is interrupted by the antacid - including whatever calcium was in the antacid itself.

Calcium in the body is depleted by antacids; osteoporosis is a common result of using products that deplete calcium and create other imbalances.

This resource will help you find a particular drug, what nutrients it interferes with, common side-effects, etc.

This may help to remind you, the best way to avoid heartburn and reflux issues is to eat more fruits and veggies, and that the best sources of calcium are in the produce section of the market.

Antacids - Treatment with Drugs

The effects are the same regardless of how the antacid works.

• "Occasional heartburn is probably best treated with over-the-counter antacids. These products go straight to the esophagus and immediately work to decrease acidity.

  However, they should not be used as the sole treatment for heartburn sufferers who either have two or more episodes per week or who suffer for periods of over three weeks.

  There is a risk of kidney damage and other metabolic changes."

• "The long-term effects of inhibiting stomach acid production are unknown. Without the antiseptic effects of a consistently very acidic stomach environment, users of H2 blockers or proton-pump inhibitors may become more susceptible to bacterial and viral infection.

  Absorption of some drugs is also lowered by this less-acidic environment."

Now, I know this answer is a little technical, but I challenge you to go out to the internet and find a more correct one.

The short story is this:

Antacids neutralize the normal stomach acid, creating an abnormal condition where

• we are more susceptible to infection,
• we decrease our ability to absorb the nutrients from our food,
• we can create serious kidney and other organ damage.

My Opinion:

Your doctor is supposed to know this... he or she studied from Dr. Guyton's text the same as I did.

There is nothing extraordinary about the information presented here - this is normal physiology studied by every medical doctor, every chiropractor, every dentist, every nurse.

It is not a specialty field at this level, it is basic material taught in first or second-year medical school.

My question is this: Where did your doctor hear that antacids are a source of calcium?

The answer is frightening: They didn't read it in a medical text... they heard it from the makers of antacids, they saw it on television. One manufacturer, SmithGlaxoKline, sells 50 million packages of Tums ® a year. This is big business.

The long-term consequences of daily antacid use are unknown, but they are suspected to be serious.

Problems with long-term daily use of antacids are serious enough that, in my opinion,

any doctor who recommends ANY antacid as a daily nutritional source of calcium should have their license reviewed for failing to provide current, basic, accurate information to patients who have a right to know.

Some Fascinating Antacid History

---

Osteo-Update
Free eNewsletter

---

Top of Antacids Osteoporosis Page

Osteoporosis-People Home Page

Learn More about Powdered Fruits and Veggies

---

Common Mis-spellings: anti-acid, antiacid, antiacids, tums, active ingredient, ingrediant, rolaids