Gas production after reaction of sodium bicarbonate and hydrochloric acid

Ingestion of sodium bicarbonate has been implicated as one of the proximate causes of spontaneous gastric rupture. However, the volume and rate of gas released from the reaction of ingested sodium bicarbonate and gastric acid has not been previously studied in detail. We, therefore, developed an in vitro method for measuring gas release after addition of sodium bicarbonate to a solution containing hydrochloric acid. From the results of our studies, we conclude that even though hydrochloric acid and sodium bicarbonate react instantaneously, the resulting gas production is slow, mainly because CO2 produced from the dehydration of carbonic acid dissolves in water and is only slowly released into the gas phase. The major exogenous factors that determine the rate of gas release are the volume of the solution, the quantity of reactants, the air volume over the reaction mixture, the partial pressure of CO2 of the acid solution before the addition of bicarbonate, and the stirring rate. The presence of food, alcohol, and carbonic anhydrase had relatively little if any effect. Based on our results, we believe that ingestion of the recommended dose of sodium bicarbonate (one-half teaspoon) would result in only small amounts of sudden gas release, probably not enough to be an important factor in causing spontaneous gastric rupture. On the other hand, we measured the amount of sodium bicarbonate that people actually select to take for indigestion, and all exceeded the recommended dose. Some people selected doses of bicarbonate that would result in several hundred milliliters of gas release within 3 min; it seems likely that such injudicious ingestion of sodium bicarbonate, if taken when the stomach was distended with air, food, and liquid, could be an important factor in spontaneous gastric rupture.