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Beware the sodium content of soluble and effervescent drugs!

Sodium is added to soluble and effervescent drugs to help them dissolve and disperse. Many soluble drugs contain more than 400mg of sodium in each tablet – the WHO recommends no more than 2g/day.

If you take 4g of paracetamol a day in the soluble/effervescent form, your sodium intake would be >3g/day, well over the WHO recommended daily limit for sodium.

What is more, two cohort studies have shown that taking soluble/effervescent paracetamol is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and death.

Looking at cardiovascular events, over 1 year:
NNH was 100 in those with hypertension (this means that for every 100 people treated with soluble paracetamol (compared with those not given paracetamol), there was 1 additional cardiovascular event.
NNH was 142 in those without hypertension.
For cardiovascular deaths in those with and without hypertension, the NNH was 67.

(DTB 2022, DOI: 10.1136/dtb.2022.000061)

	Beware the sodium content of soluble and effervescent drugs! If it is possible to avoid soluble forms of medication, it may be wise to!
	Useful resources: Websites (all resources are hyperlinked for ease of use in Red Whale Knowledge) NHS – problems swallowing pills

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