People who suffer from gastric problems like acidity (or heartburn) and gas are advised to take antacids by their consulting physicians. Also, people who are under heavy medications due to different health issues are also prescribed antacids first thing in the morning, and that too empty stomach. As per a study published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, antacids can help in keeping sugar under control.
What are Antacids?
- Antacids are a class of medicines that neutralize the acid in the stomach. They contain ingredients such as aluminum, calcium, magnesium, or sodium bicarbonate which act as bases (alkalis) to counteract stomach acid and make its pH more neutral.
- pH is a measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions in a solution and this determines how acidic or how alkaline that solution is. The scale ranges from 1 to 14, where below 7 is acidic, 7 is neutral, and above 7 is alkaline. Normal gastric acid pH is in the range of 1.5-3.5.
What are antacids used for?
- Antacids are used to relieve the symptoms of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD also called acid reflux), heartburn, or indigestion (also called dyspepsia).
- Some antacids are also used for completely unrelated medical conditions, for example:
- Aluminum antacids: lower elevated blood phosphate levels and prevent the formation of kidney stones
- Calcium carbonate antacids: treat calcium deficiency
- Magnesium oxide antacids: treat magnesium deficiency.
Using antacids to control glucose levels
- Antacids improved blood sugar control in people with diabetes but had no effect on reducing the risk of diabetes in the general population, according to a new meta-analysis published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
- Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) — a commonly used type of antacid medication — improved blood sugar control in people with diabetes.
- The researchers performed a meta-analysis on the effects of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) — a commonly used type of antacid medication — on blood sugar levels in people with diabetes and whether these medications could prevent the new onset of diabetes in the general population.
- Health experts agree that more research is needed to better understand if and how PPIs could be used to improve blood sugar levels.
- The analysis included seven studies (342 participants) for glycemic control and 5 studies (244, 439 participants) for risk of incident diabetes.
- The researchers found antacids can reduce HbA1c levels by 0.36% in people with diabetes and lower fasting blood sugar by 10 mg/dl based on the results from seven clinical trials. For those without diabetes, the results of the five studies showed that antacids had no effect on reducing the risk of developing diabetes.
- “Unless the patient has a gastrointestinal indication to be on antacids, I would not recommend starting antacids purely with the hope that it will help diabetes,” said Dr. Marilyn Tan, an endocrinologist with Stanford Health Care in Palo Alto, California.
Also Read: Diabetes And The Second Wave Of COVID-19
