Product Review : Alka Seltzer Plus

Alka Seltzer Plus is the brand name for a whole range of different products aimed at helping you through the flu season, at last count there were a total of eighteen products under this banner brand. It is important therefore to know what exactly you are asking for when you ask for Alka Seltzer Plus.

One of their new products is Immunity complex. This is aimed at building your immune system to prevent you catching a cold in the first place, and to enable you to fight it off faster if you do get one. It contains a variety of antioxidant vitamins at close to or above recommended daily intakes. One of these vitamins is Vitamin A, making the product unsuitable for pregnant women who are supposed to avoid Vitamin A supplements. There is also a good dose of several of the B group vitamins, which will provide energy and a feel good factor as well as Zinc and Vitamin C, essential for healthy immune system. The name of the product implies the presence of herbal immune boosters, but there are none in it. The product also contains Selenium, a mineral that has proved to be toxic in overdose. My impression is that this product contains nothing that would not be available to you in a good multivitamin and mineral plus a cheap vitamin C tablet.

Alka Seltzer Plus also makes a variety of cold and flu treatments. All of these formulas contain a combination of only five ingredients. All contain acetaminophen to relieve pain and fever, and all contain the decongestant phenylephrine, to relieve nasal and sinus symptoms. The differences are in the extra ingredients. Some contain chlorpheniramine, a sedating antihistamine, which will dry up your nose and help you sleep; and some contain dextromethorphan, a cough suppressant. Essentially the differences between these products are minor and a short conversation with your pharmacist will reveal which one may be most suitable for you.

It is important not to mix these products, as you will simply be doubling up on the same ingredients, and may be risking liver damage from an acetaminophen overdose. Thousands of people are hospitalized every year through accidental overdose because they are not aware of how similar many of these products are.

The only exception to this similarity in the range is the new "cough tablet". The mucus and congestion break up formula. It contains dextromethorphan, a cough suppressant, and guaifenesin, a mucus liquefier that makes any coughing more productive.

The final part of the Alka Seltzer Plus range is the liquids. These contain the same ingredients as the cold tablets, but designed specifically for daytime use, nighttime use or use when you have a dry cough.

Alka Seltzer Plus makes a huge range of essentially similar medicines. The important things you need to know on entering the store are, do you want something that will help you sleep, in which case get one of the formulations with chlorpheniramine included, and do you have a dry cough, in which case get a formulation with dextromethorphan in it. Do not mix the different formulations or you may end up accidentally giving yourself an acetaminophen overdose.