Imitation Alka Seltzer for a fraction of the cost

As I was making bath bombs to give for Christmas I felt a little heartburn. I reached for the Alka Seltzer... Wow... $8.99 for 36 tablets! One dose is made of 2 tablets, so that comes to 50 cents per dose. Then I looked at the active ingredients. Citric acid and sodium bicarbonate. Exactly what I was using for the bath bombs! Sour salt and baking soda! I made a rapid calculation: one dose comes to 2 grams of citric acid, and 3.88 grams of baking soda. If I figure that citric acid costs $4/lb and baking soda is $1/lb, the exact same dose of alka selzer's active ingredients would cost me about 2.5 cents to make myself.... Twenty times less than the store bought version! OK to be fair, I didn't figure the cost of filler, and the store bought alka selzer also contained aspirin, but I neither needed nor wanted the aspirin. I was looking for heartburn relief only. Even if you end up spending more on the citric acid and less for the Alka Seltzer than I did, you'll still come out ahead.

Disclaimer: I am neither a doctor, a pharmacist nor a chemist. I figured out the dose of the ingredients by weighing them and then converting the measurements to volumes, because it's a more convenient way of measuring for most people. Also, since there is no aspirin in this mixture it will do nothing for headaches, hangovers, or flu-like symptoms. This is for acid indigestion, upset stomach and heartburn only. All the warnings on the Alka Selzer label apply for this concoction:

Warnings
Ask a doctor before use if you have a sodium-restricted diet
Ask a doctor or pharmacist before use if you are presently taking a prescription drug.
Antacids may interact with certain prescription drugs.
When using this product do not exceed recommended dosage
Stop use and ask a doctor if you have taken the maximum dose for 2 weeks
If pregnant or breast-feeding, ask a health professional before use.
Keep out of reach of children.
.........................................................................................................................................
Directions
adults and children 12 years and older
Fully dissolve two teaspoons in 4 ounces of water before taking
2 teaspoons every 4 hours as needed, or as directed by a doctor
do not exceed 8 teaspoons in 24 hours
adults 60 years and over
2 teaspoons every 4 hours as needed, or as directed by a doctor
do not exceed 4 teaspoons in 24 hours
children under 12 years
consult a doctor

Step 1 Recipe

I first tried to make tablets using the bath bomb principle: mix in a small amount to liquid (in this case I replaced the bath oils with agave syrup) and smush the mixture together. Perhaps with more patience the right balance could be achieved, but when the cute little balls started swelling, and ended up the next day as a bubbly, sticky mess, I opted for this dry, powdered version instead. Much less labor intensive to make, just as pleasant to consume.

Put the following ingredients into a bowl and mix thoroughly:

1/4 cup citric acid (aka sour salt or lemon salt)
1/2 cup minus 1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup fructose
3 tablespoons cornstarch

Store in an airtight container. When needed, pour 2 teaspoons into a small glass of water, stir, and drink. Make sure your measuring spoon is dry and you don't get any water in your jar...

This recipe will yield about 66 doses. If you'd like to try it out with a single dose, mix these quantities into a small cup, then add water:

1/4 heaping teaspoon citric acid (aka sour salt or lemon salt)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fructose

This makes a slightly smaller dose than the regular amount, but when it comes to medicine it's better to err on the conservative side.

Comments

[Tobita]

I'm pretty sure you could compress it into a tablet if you were to mill the powder much finer before pressing it dry.

[belsey]

That might work theoretically, but practically I don't have any way to grind it super fine, and even if I did some powder would probably become air-born and uncomfortable. Just pouring regular citric acid into the bowl can get a little unpleasant, so if the particles were finer I imagine it would be even worse. I see the problem as how to squeeze the powder into shape --  and thinking of your comment, I realized a garlic press might be the perfect tool! Line it with a small piece of aluminum foil, press it, pull it out with the foil and wrap it up... Might just work! Still a lot of labor though, so I'm not sure if it's worth the effort. The powder works just as well spooned into a cup of water...

[lawdog323]

FYI- aspirin is great for your skin... :)

[lsrieck]

 Really cool idea - but for me the active ingredient is aspirin.  I've ground up plain old aspirin, and added it to vitamin C, with some baking soda and come up with a pretty good substitute.  Good for colds, hangovers, upset tummies and the like.

[stephenniall]

i made this and enptied out a old paracetamol Tablet thingy ! (could use a tablet organizer you know themt hings monday tuesday etc ) steralized it in my mini steamer (must make a ible on that too) and put this in them Made about 20 tablets because i left out cornstarch ! yay

[belsey]

If you used the quantities I gave in the instructable your dose is wrong. You should be getting 66 tablets, not twenty. Give or take a little (because you left out the cornstarch), your tablets are 3 times too large. Nothing life threatening, but do be careful!

[stephenniall]

i didnt use the dose you supplied Plus i left some not in tablet form

[belsey]

Glad to hear that...

[rattyrain]

Do you think it would be possible to form a tablet by mixing the active ingredients with melted (liquid) sugar?

[omnibot]

It seems some people are having problems with the stuff hardening if cornstarch is left out. Perhaps this can be used for making tablets?

[belsey]

Yes, I just thought of that too. As soon as I get a chance I'll do some experiments and if it works out I'll post an update.

[omnibot]

I've been thinking about beeswax or gelatin to help form pills under pressure.

[belsey]

That's what I was trying to do with the Agave syrup -- my experiment failed, but that doesn't mean it's not possible. I might simply have put too much syrup into the mix. I didn't have the patience to make it work, but if you want to attempt it I'd love to hear about your results!

[alkatom]

Made up a batch following recipe and 10 minutes later it hardened in the air tight container. One thing i left out was the cornstarch , didn't have any. Is it the cornstarch that keeps it from hardening?

[belsey]

Yes, the cornstarch would help prevent it from hardening, but it's odd that happened. I've made it without cornstarch (using extra fructose) and I didn't have any trouble. The only time it did turn to stone was when I tried replacing the cornstarch with powdered vitamin C. I still used it though... hacking at it with a fork was a pain but it worked just as well. Maybe your fructose had absorbed more water than mine had. Sorry. Hope you have better luck next time.

[alkatom]

Broke it up with a knife and hammer, added the cornstarch, and no more cement. Have been taking alkaseltzer for 40 or 50 years with the aspirin and this is a nice substitute. Thanks to the author.

[Captain Dyson]

kid do u even know the cause of heart burn? it is excess acid in the stomach all u need to do is dissolve bicarb of soda in water and drink it

[belsey]

Yes, sweetie, I know that. The citric acid acts as a buffering solution, preventing the stomach's Ph to fluctuate too much with the sudden arrival of bicarb... in practical terms this means this solution might be slower to act, but the effect lasts longer.

[Jupitane]

Very cool man!

[SoapyHollow]

FYI, just plain ol bicarbonate (baking soda) is the traditional remedy for heartburn. You can stir about a teaspoon into water, and it'll settle tummy gas. :)

[belsey]

Yes, I do know that... but this does have a few advantages over plain baking soda: the acid works as a buffer solution, which theoretically means it brings the acidity in your stomach within a certain range regardless of what the Ph was to begin with. Practically it means that the soda works faster but the effect does not last, whereas this combo might not kick in instantly but it works longer (so you'd need to take it less often). This is quite unscientific, coming just from a single person who tried both. Whether it is true for everybody or not, at the very least this is more fun and tastes a whole lot better than plain ol bicarbonate. And by the way, your bath bombs were a great success (although I wasn't so good at getting them out of the molds without breaking them, so I ended up grinding them and putting the powder in pretty glass jars).

[SoapyHollow]

Oh yeah, I wasn't criticizing. Just passing along folk wisdom. :) I'm sorry to hear that your bombs broke though. Lemme know if you want some help troubleshooting them. :)

[belsey]

and I didn't mean to sound defensive... when I published this I knew the citric acid was there for a reason (or it wouldn't have been listed as an active ingredient) but I wasn't sure of its exact role. I was interested to learn though comments what it does and wanted to pass that on... The relative failure of the bath bombs was entirely my fault. For my first batch, I had a tin mold which had a slight rim which pulled the 2 halves apart. The second time I wanted to experiment with cocoa butter, powdered milk and chocolate fragrance -- eventually I'll get it to "stick" but the first version worked well simply as fizzy bath salt.

[SoapyHollow]

Cocoa butter is really tricky in bath bombs. Any butter is. I recommend saving the butters for making melts instead. (I should do an instructable on my chocolate raspberry cocoa and shea bath melts. They're beyond decadent, and super easy to make. ) To get a good chocolate color, replace a tablespoon or two of the corn starch with cocoa powder. (The unsweetened stuff...you don't want to attract ants.) I'd stick to using a light oil and water emulsion for the liquid. To add milk, replace up to an 1.5 oz of corn starch with milk powder. Again, try to find one that does not have corn syrup solids in it. Cheers, and happy bathing!

[belsey]

Thanks for the good advice... that's pretty much what I did, except I replaced more cornstarch with milk because I wanted to use the entire 3.2 oz pack. That might have been the problem, but I think my main mistake was I didn't have quite enough liquid. I'll just have to try again. I have a big jar of cocoa butter, so until you publish that interesting instructible there's only so much chocolate lip balm I can make...

[SoapyHollow]

Keep your butter in the fridge, and it's good practically forever. You can freeze it too, but I find that it makes the butters "grainy" for lack of a better word. You can also add up to 2% tocepherol (liquid Vit E), and that will add a natural preservative. But seriously, in the fridge...universes will end before that stuff will go rancid. :)

[belsey]

I'll do that. Thanks again for your comments!

[haraldbreisgauer]

I am neither a doctor, a pharmacist but a chemist. I think I should say some warning words. I think this is not a recipe for alka selzer but for a soft drink. The aspirin (acetylated salicylic acid) is used as pain reliever and as a antipyretic medicine and against every kind of inflammation. Citric acid and sodiumbicarbonate are only inside for galenic purposes. You can add lemon juice to carbonated water, too but that will not result in a proven medicine. Instead you can use a tea of willow bark or blackcurrent juice, there is a little portion of saliicylic acid inside but salicylic acid is more agressive to your stomach than the acetylated compound. My advise is to use this recipe for fun or because you like its taste, and to use Aspirin tabletts when you are ill. Aspirin is the working agent, and nothing else. Carbonates and acid form nice bubbling solutions (t.rohner already said that), and carbonates were used for treatment of pyrosis (heartburn) . But when using them for this purpose they produce a big amount of gas in your stomach and that is not really healthy. Nowadays pharmacists don't recommend carbonates as a medicine for treatment of pyrosis. Having said that all theres only one thing to mention: Cheers!

[belsey]

Although as I said, I am not a doctor, chemist or pharmacist, I did check my facts before publishing this: here is a link to the Alka Selzer website which shows their aspirin-free product designed solely for heartburn. They sell a version of their product with aspirin for heartburn accompanied by aches and pain (that's what the aspirin is for: aches and pain). Baking soda alone does reduce heartburn symptoms, and some people take it plain, with fine results. But as I learned from comments by some knowledgeable readers, the citric acid acts as a buffer solution. As a chemist, you should be able to understand that better than I: a weak acid, added to a weak base will bring the Ph to a nearly constant value. As I understand it, this means that by adding the weak citric acid to the weak baking soda the acidity level of your stomach will be brought within a certain acceptable range -- an advantage over baking soda taken plain. It is possible that I misunderstood this last concept of "buffer solution." But the fact is, Alka Seltzer does sell one version without aspirin for simple heartburn, and that this mixture does temporarily relieve those same symptoms. If you let it dissolve properly before drinking it gas should not be a problem either. I would NOT recommend using this as a soft drink because you like the taste: it contains sodium, to be avoided by some people, and it should not be used more than is described in the warnings on step one.

[haraldbreisgauer]

I admit that I didn't knew this kind of alka seltzer. I know alka seltzer, like aspirin as a synonym for a preparation containing acetylsalicylic acid. In your instruction you mention that "the store bought alka selzer also contained aspirin". The use of citrate buffer as a medicamentation against heartburn was not known to me before an I think it is not very common here. Different markets different products. Mea culpa. I think you should make clear in your instructable that its an "imitation" of alka seltzer heartburn relief and not the classic one. By the way the recipe citric acid with baking soda water and sugar is the classical recipe for effervescent powder. I think it can't be in your purpose that people with headaches, fever influenza etc. use effervescent lemonade instead of a proven medicine. I hope you don't see my comments as offense but as a proposal. Happy new year and Cheers!

[belsey]

The title of the instructable does call it an imitation... it's true that the Alka Seltzer I had contained aspirin, which, according to the label, is an analgesic (for pain relief) whereas the bicarbonate & citric acid were listed as antacid (for heartburn relief). Since I wasn't looking for pain relief I checked, and sure enough, A.S. is available without aspirin... That said, I did not take offense, but I did want to emphasize that the drink should not be taken for the pleasant fizzy effect. The effervescent candies I had a kid I'm sure contained the same stuff, but the proportions were different. My guess would be something like 1/8 citric acid, 1/8 baking soda, 3/4 sugar. I think you're right for one thing though... it seemed obvious to me that I was suggesting this mixture for temporary relief of heartburn only. Not hangovers, not flu, not headaches... however that doesn't seem to be clear enough, so I will add a line on that in the warnings. Thanks for the comment!

[flybynightenterprises]

I like Alkaseltzer and its generics for the taste, which is probably largely due to the aspirin. It is kind of like a Fizzie for grownups. How's the taste of the aspirinless version?

[belsey]

I used to like the Fizzies as a kid too -- and I'm sure they contained the same ingredients, though with different proportions. This mixture tastes OK but it's a little less sweet than the real Alka Selzer -- I guess the Aspartame (aka Nutrasweet) is sweeter than the fructose I used. However if you're just doing it for taste, I would reduce the proportion of baking soda (which makes it taste salty) and increase the fructose. Or use plain old granulated sugar instead and dip stuff in it, like those sour popping lollipops. You should still get the fizzing effect -- however as I said in the comment above (and in the warnings), don't overindulge...

[ClayOgre]

Hmmm...this has me wondering. When I was a kid, there were these sort of "beverage mix" things you could buy, called "Fizzies". You dropped them into a glass of water and they made flavored soda water. Haven't seen them for sale in years. Wonder if you couldn't use this method to make them, but I have no idea how, since the end result would have to taste considerably different than alka seltzer, and have a totally different end purpose.

[ClayOgre]

Ha! They still make 'em.

http://www.fizzies.com/

[pastorkev]

"He who pays unnecessarily for overpriced medications and overpriced diagnosis is a fool for a patient."

[omnibot]

Cool .. my partner has a bad stomach and we just go for the bicarbonate. I'll try this as well. Before she used a fortune in anti-acids. My personal view is that having a sour stomach on a regular basis is a symptom of a real problem and anti-acids are just a temporary quick-fix, change your diet and see a doctor. Good instructable, this will save a lot of money for a lot of people. You wouldn't happen to know what Efexor antidepressants are made of by any chance? ;)

[Papersatan]

I started getting heartburn at 22, it gradually worsened for a year until I was taking antacids 6 times a day and sleeping sitting up. Turns out it was a symptom of something else; I had an undiagnosed food allergy. I think people reach for the antacids because they assume it is caused by things they are choosing not to change. I know I didn't go to a doctor because I assumed they would tell me to lose weight and eat better and take antacids. Which, judging by my experience getting my allergy diagnosed, is what would have happened, but that doesn't change the fact that it was a symptom and I should have treated it as such.

[omnibot]

Interesting. My partner is 22 yo and your description could fit her. We've figured out she has problems with milk, soy and eggs but not gluten by excluding them from her diet. What was your allergy?

[Papersatan]

Sulfites, which translates to anything made with wine, dried fruit or processed corn, including corn syrup and corn starch. Because it is not one of the 'big 8' no one ever brought it up as a possibility, but I was told to go on a rotating diet, basically eat the simplest foods possible and only eat the same ingredient once every 5 days. That helped me figure out a pattern of my reactions (after the year of heartburn I started breaking out in hives) and from that which things I was allergic to.