ArticleJournal of medical toxicology : official journal of the American College of Medical Toxicology2021
Calcium Carbonate for Elemental Lead Ingestions: Effect of Alkalinization on Elemental Lead Solubility in a Simulated Gastric Environment.
Article in Journal of medical toxicology : official journal of the American College of Medical Toxicology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Oral calcium supplements to reduce the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of arsenic and lead in contaminated soil.Scientific reports · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
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Abstract
introductionAcute ingestion of elemental lead foreign bodies has resulted in multiple pediatric deaths. Elemental lead is relatively insoluble at alkaline pH. Furthermore, calcium decreases lead absorption by interfering with the lead absorptive receptor. We hypothesize that alkalinization of gastric fluid with an oral calcium-containing agent, such as calcium carbonate, will decrease lead solubility, thus reducing the potential for systemic lead absorption and toxicity.
methodsThis was an in vitro controlled study. One lead sphere (00 buckshot, cast 30 days prior) was randomly placed in each of ten tubes containing 20 mL simulated gastric fluid, with five tubes having 500 mg calcium carbonate added at 20 min and 140 min. We measured the fluid pH and the lead concentrations hourly for 4 h. We compared the median amount of total lead liberated after 4 h between the two groups using the Mann-Whitney U test.
resultsThe pH of the gastric fluid only tubes remained 1 at every measurement, and the pH of the gastric fluid + calcium carbonate tubes was 6 at every measurement. At hour 4, the total amount of lead liberated in the soluble fraction in the control group vs the calcium carbonate group was 850 vs 12.4 mcg (95% CI for absolute difference: 605-964 mcg; p = 0.0079).
conclusionsCalcium carbonate antacid alkalinizes gastric fluid pH and dramatically decreases the total amount of solubilized lead by 60-fold. This project lends foundational evidence to a low-cost, widely available, pre-hospital strategy to decrease lead absorption after acute elemental lead ingestions.
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