NEUTRALIZING CAPACITY AND SODIUM CONTENT OF ANTACID BRANDS ON THE KENYAN MARKET

Seventeen brands of antacid products available on the Kenya market wer e investigated for their acid neutralising capacity and sodium content . Thirteen tablet products gave neutralising capacity per tablet of be tween 4.7 to 14.12 mMol hydrochloric acid. The neutralising capacities for the suspensions ranged between 11.97 to 34.32 mMol hydrochloric a cid for 10ml suspension. The lowest neutralising capacities were obtai ned for products based on compound magnesium trisilicate and higher ca pacities for those containing magaldrate, or magnesium hydroxide or ma gnesium carbonate in combination with other ingredients. The fastest r ate of neutralization was obtained with preparations containing carbon ates and the lowest by compound magnesium trisilicate. The sodium cont ent for the preparations was between <0.001 mEq to 0.732 mEq sodium pe r minimum recommended dose. The study shows a high degree of variation in both the acid neutralising capacities and the sodium content of th e different brands investigated.