Re: Prilosec (Omeprazole) Plus Calcium Carbonate Decreases Calcium Absorption In Elderly Women

[Guest guest]

a: Thanks for this link....it has caused a bunch

of questions for me...I take Nexium(Prilosec improved)

for

reflux and swallowing problems that go with

scleroderma...if this drug is slowing down absorption

of calcium ...would that be really that bad in

scleroderma..I know it is a collegen thing but I also

have calcium deposits in places they should not be..I

am not an elderly woman, but this article has me

thinking????? Thanks to you and for all the

infomative links you both post...you keep this

middle-aged woman thinking....Kathi in OK

--- a <paula54@...> wrote:

> Prilosec (Omeprazole) Plus Calcium Carbonate

> Decreases Calcium Absorption In

> Elderly Women

>

>

> By Anne son

> Special to DG News

>

> WASHINGTON, DC -- May 15, 2002 -- The concomitant

> use of Prilosec

> (omeprazole) with calcium carbonate and no food

> decreases calcium absorption

> in most elderly women.

>

> " Of our 18 patients, 16 had decreased fractional

> calcium absorption and two

> subjects had increased fractional calcium absorption

> on omeprazole, " said

> Dr. Beth O'Connell, PharmD, from University of

> Minnesota, in

> Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. She reported

> findings here Friday at

> the annual scientific meeting of the American

> Geriatrics Society in

> Washington, DC.

>

> Calcium carbonate needs an acidic medium for

> disintegration and digestion.

> To determine if acid suppression induced by

> omeprazole would result in

> decreased calcium absorption, Dr. O'Connell and

> colleagues conducted a

> placebo-controlled, double-blind crossover study in

> 18 women aged 65-89

> (76±6.5 years).

>

> In the first arm of the study, subjects were

> randomly selected to receive

> seven days of the proton pump inhibitor omeprazole

> or placebo. Beginning one

> week prior to study day 1, subjects took vitamin D

> 400 IU/day throughout the

> study period. Calcium carbonate supplements were

> held one week before each

> study day.

>

> On study day 1, subjects ingested radioactively

> labeled calcium carbonate

> (45-CaCO3) 1.25 gm and the study drug. Blood samples

> were drawn prior to

> 45-CaCO3 and five hours later. Subjects fasted from

> the previous night until

> the five-hour sample.

>

> Calcium concentrations were determined by atomic

> absorption

> spectrophotometry. Fractional calcium absorption was

> calculated based on

> serum concentrations of radioactively labeled

> calcium carbonate, height, and

> weight.

>

> In the second arm of the study, the procedure was

> repeated with the other

> drug after a washout period lasting at least three

> weeks.

>

> At the end of the study period, Dr. O'Connell and

> her colleagues found that

> the mean fractional calcium absorption decreased

> from 9.1±5.1 percent on

> placebo to 3.5±3.9 percent on omeprazole (p=0.003).

> Sixteen women achieved a

> decrease in fractional calcium absorption on

> omeprazole, while two women had

> increases in fractional calcium absorption on

> concomitant omeprazole and

> calcium carbonate.

>

> The mean difference in fractional calcium absorption

> was -5.5±-6.9 percent

> and ranged from -18.6 percent to 12.1 percent.

>

> Though no period effect was seen, age did seem to

> play a role in fractional

> calcium absorption, Dr. O'Connell noted. " Age

> correlated with fractional

> calcium absorption while on omeprazole, but not for

> placebo or the

> difference, " she said.

>

>

>

>

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