Homemade Gaviscon Advance

(Please note that I am not a doctor, but this has been my personal experience with this product). I bought
this for my LPR reflux, since many US products don't contain enough alginate. Some US chewable
antacid products state they contain aginic acid, but if you try grinding them down and mixing them with
water or saliva, many of them will not gel. And when you expose them to acid, many will not gel or foam
creating the raft. So these are essentially useless for my LPR.

Luckily, there is a 2011 medical study for GERD published at the US NIH (NIHMS452859) that found
that 1000 mg sodium alginate, 426 mg sodium bicarbonate, and 650 mg calcium carbonate did
reduce reflux after eating by creating the alginate gel/foam raft, keeping acid away from the
esophagus.

Well sodium bicarbonate is just baking soda, and calcium carbonate is found in a typical Tums-type
antacid. So I have tried to replicate this formulation by converting to US teaspoon measurements.

So right after I received the new 16 oz container of WillPowder sodium alginate, I measured the volume in
cubic centimeters by using a ruler and applied the equation for cylinder volume and measured about
647.5 cc's. Since there are approximately 453.6 grams in 16 oz., there should be approximately 1.43 cc's
of sodium alginate per gram. But this is a rough estimate. And since 1 cc is approximately .20 teaspoons,
to get 1000 mg (1 gram) of sodium alginate I calculated that I would need around .29 teaspoons, which is
slightly more than 1/4 teaspoon.

So I mixed a slightly rounded 1/4 teaspoon of sodium alginate with just under 1/8 teaspoon of baking
soda (1/8 teaspoon of baking soda is somewhere around 500-600 mg). I also used a mortar and pestle to
crush one 750 mg chewable calcium carbonate antacid tablet into a powder (it is 100 mg more but I
figure that should be okay). Then I mixed all of this together with a few ounces of water.

The alginate will begin to gel, and I mix it occasionally for a few minutes, and then when it seems
homogeneous, I spoon it into my mouth. It tastes pretty good. A small amount of gas was produced a few
minutes later causing me to burp.

So what happens to that gel once you swallow it and it hits your stomach acid? Well, you can see this
effect by pouring the gel into a bowl and then pour an acid on it (like vinegar) to mimic stomach acid. You
will see the small amount of baking soda react and fill the gel with CO2 air pockets, creating the all-
important raft.

I calculated that there is enough Sodium Alginate in this container for about 317 uses, and so it is the
cheapest solution I could find for my LPR reflux in the US. Another benefit is that since it is not a
chewable tablet, I'm not grinding down chemical compounds with my teeth. I'm not sure what the long
term use of chewable antacids does to my teeth and gums, so a liquid formulation should avoid these
issues. However, the long term use of antacids in general can have side-effects and also create nutrient
deficiencies, so please consult with your doctor before doing so.