Acid-inhibiting drugs like Zantac and Prilosec have become hugely popular because they’re so good at preventing the unpleasant symptoms of heartburn and acid indigestion.
But the drugs also make it more likely that a person will be short on vitamin B-12. And that can contribute to health problems including depression, nerve damage and dementia.
People who took acid-inhibiting drugs for two or more years were more likely to have B-12 deficiency, according to a study published Tuesday in JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association. The more medication they took, the more apt they were to be short on the vitamin. That was particularly true if they took drugs called proton pump inhibitors, which can suppress 90 percent of stomach acid. Over-the-counter brand names for those include Prevacid and Prilosec.
Other acid-inhibiting drugs, called histamine 2 receptor antagonists, also increased the risk of B-12 deficiency, but not as much. They’re sold over-the-counter as Pepcid, Tagamet and Zantac, among other names.
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