Effervescent drugs are absorbed faster in the body, but they also contain a lot of salt.
- Medicines containing the active substance “paracetamol” (analgesic and antipyretic marketed under the names of Doliprane, Dafalgan and Efferalgan) are the most sold in France.
- In 2020, the turnover of prescription drugs amounted to 21.2 billion euros (in manufacturer’s price excluding taxes), i.e. 0.6% compared to 2019.
Medications that have a salt compound called sodium added to make them effervescent can be problematic for those who need to take them regularly. according to a new study. This can indeed lead them to exceed the 2 g of salt recommended each day, which in particular causes cardiovascular diseases (heart attack, stroke)…
Paracetamol
“Previous studies have shown that high sodium intake is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality in people with hypertension. In contrast, data regarding the effect of sodium intake effervescence in people without hypertension have so far all been equivocal”, explain the scientists in the introduction.
Chinese Professor Chao Zeng’s team has therefore studied the effect of taking effervervescent or non-effervervescent paracetamol on more than 300,000 people over the age of 60. Assessment after one year of observation: in people suffering from hypertension (mean age: 73.4 years), 122 cardiovascular diseases occurred among the 4532 people who started taking paracetamol containing sodium (risk at one year: 5.6%) and 3051 among the 146,866 people who started taking paracetamol that does not contain sodium (risk at one year: 4.6%).
Among those without hypertension (mean age: 71.0 years), 105 cardiovascular diseases occurred among the 5351 people who started taking paracetamol containing sodium (one-year risk: 4.4%) and 2,079 of the 141,948 people who started taking paracetamol that did not contain sodium (one-year risk: 3.7%).
A real risk
“The actual risk was only increased by about 1% compared to those taking sodium-free medications, but at the population level it is still significant” emphasizes Professor Zeng, relayed by Top Health. “We also found that the risk of cardiovascular disease and death increased as the duration of sodium-containing paracetamol intake increased” he concludes.
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