Research
Micronutrients & recovery
Calcium-containing antacids are a significant source of supplemental calcium for many adults, often exceeding the intake from dedicated calcium supplements.
If you take antacids for heartburn, you are likely getting supplemental calcium. This contributes to your total calcium intake and should be considered when assessing your health, especially regarding bone health.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
A noteworthy finding of this study is that a larger part of the population ingests nondietary calcium as antacids than as calcium supplements, which highlights the importance of assessing calcium-containing antacid use in studies of calcium intake and health.
Why this rating
Based on NHANES data with detailed product categorization.
Source
Dietary Supplement Use by US Adults: Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999-2000
Kathy Radimer · American Journal of Epidemiology · 2004
DOI 10.1093/aje/kwh207
cross_sectional · n=4862Cited 822×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Dietary supplement use, particularly multivitamins and calcium-containing antacids, contributes significantly to total nutrient intake in US adults and must be accounted for in epidemiological studies to avoid confounding.Good
- Some dietary supplements contain nutrients at or above the Upper Intake Levels (UL), posing a risk of excessive intake, especially when multiple supplements are used.Moderate
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