Antacids are drugs and you should be concerned about any chemicals or unnatural substances that you put into your body on a consistent basis. They are used so commonly for heartburn and acid reflux that we tend to think of them as harmless.
Look at this photo, it looks like a bottle full of candy, doesn't it? Why do you think they make them look like that?
Antacids have been around for a long time and we’re all familiar with them. They work on the principle that alkalis cancel out acids. In other words, they are stomach acid neutralizers. They are only effective until the alkalizing ingredients are used up, a couple of hours.
If used only occasionally they probably do no real harm, but if you’re living on them, they can have serious side effects.
Ingredients
Each type of antacid utilizes different active ingredients. Check the labels on what you are using. Following are the most popular ingredients and some common side effects:
The Drugs
Basically, if your body can’t get rid of the chemicals in these things, like if your kidneys are weak, or you are taking a lot of them, these chemicals can accumulate in the body causing serious health problems.
One of the worst side effects of antacid overuse is milk-alkali syndrome.his is where excess calcium accumulates in the blood and can lead to kidney failure. You can most easily get this by drinking lots of milk while taking these acid neutralizers over a long period of time or eating large amounts of antacids by themselves.
Reduced Stomach Acidity
Any time the acid level of the stomach is reduced you run the risk of not digesting food properly (causing more digestive problems) and of nutrients from the food not being absorbed by the body.
The natural acid levels in the stomach also kill off the bacteria, viruses and germs that we ingest everyday. This means low levels of stomach acid can lead to increased infections.
In Summary
Although we tend to take these drugs lightly, they are real medications with real consequences. In the end, they just mask the symptoms of acid reflux or heartburn and do nothing to fix the underlying problem, in fact, they make the problem worse in the long run.
Just like there may be health effects from the over use of antacids, acid suppressing drugs have similar and potentially worse side effects.
OKAY, I'm scared enough to try to help myself! What can I do? FOLLOW ME