Fruit salt is an effervescent antacid powder made from a combination of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) and citric acid. When dissolved in water, these two ingredients react to produce a fizzy, slightly tart drink that neutralizes stomach acid and relieves indigestion within minutes. The term “fruit salt” comes from the use of citric acid, a naturally occurring acid found in citrus fruits, which gives the drink its tangy flavor.
What’s Actually in It
A standard 5-gram dose of fruit salt contains about 2.3 grams of sodium bicarbonate, 2.2 grams of citric acid, and 0.5 grams of sodium carbonate. The sodium bicarbonate and sodium carbonate are the active antacid components. They work by reacting directly with hydrochloric acid in your stomach, raising the pH and reducing acidity. The citric acid serves a dual purpose: it creates the effervescent fizz when the powder hits water, and it gives the drink a pleasant, slightly sour taste that would otherwise just taste salty and chalky.
Each 5-gram dose contains roughly 0.85 grams of sodium. That’s a meaningful amount, nearly half of the 2-gram daily sodium limit recommended by the World Health Organization. If you’re watching your sodium intake for blood pressure or heart health reasons, this is worth paying attention to, especially if you’re taking more than one dose in a day.
What Fruit Salt Is Used For
Fruit salt is primarily used as a fast-acting remedy for digestive discomfort. Because it dissolves in water before you drink it, the antacid is already in liquid form when it reaches your stomach, which means it can start working faster than chewable tablets that need to break down first. The conditions it helps with include:
- Heartburn and acid reflux: the burning sensation caused by stomach acid moving up into the esophagus
- Indigestion: that uncomfortable fullness, bloating, or pain in the upper abdomen after eating
- Gastritis: irritation or inflammation of the stomach lining
- General stomach acidity: the sour or burning feeling from excess acid production
It’s a symptomatic treatment, meaning it addresses the discomfort but not whatever is causing the excess acid in the first place. For occasional indigestion after a heavy meal, that’s usually all you need. If you find yourself reaching for it daily, that’s a signal something else is going on.
How to Take It
You dissolve one dose (typically one sachet or one level teaspoon of about 5 grams) in a glass of water, let it fizz, and drink it. Most people feel relief within a few minutes as the sodium bicarbonate goes to work neutralizing acid on contact. The effervescence also helps the ingredients disperse evenly through the stomach rather than sitting in one spot.
Fruit salt is meant for occasional, short-term use. Because of the high sodium content per dose, people on sodium-restricted diets should be cautious about taking multiple doses. The product labeling specifically warns against repeated dosing for anyone managing their sodium intake.
How It Differs From Other Antacids
Antacids come in several forms, and not all work the same way. Chewable tablets like calcium carbonate neutralize acid more slowly but tend to last longer in the stomach. Liquid antacids containing aluminum or magnesium hydroxide coat the stomach lining and provide more sustained relief. Fruit salt works faster than both of these but its effects are shorter-lived, because the sodium bicarbonate is quickly consumed in its reaction with stomach acid and doesn’t linger.
The fizzy delivery also makes fruit salt feel different to take. Some people find the carbonation itself soothing for nausea or bloating, while others find it causes additional burping or a feeling of gas. That burping is actually the carbon dioxide produced by the chemical reaction between the citric acid and sodium bicarbonate, and for many people it’s part of the relief, releasing trapped gas from the stomach.
Where the Name Comes From
The term dates back to the mid-1800s. In 1852, an English pharmacist named James Crossley Eno began selling his own fruit salt mixture from a chemist’s shop in Newcastle. He formally founded Eno’s Fruit Salt Works in 1868, and the brand name “Eno’s Fruit Salt” was adopted in 1873. The name referenced the fruit-derived acid (citric acid) that distinguished these fizzy remedies from plain baking soda dissolved in water.
Mixtures combining a fruit acid with a carbonate were widely marketed for a broad range of ailments in the Victorian era, though indigestion was one of the few conditions they could genuinely help with. By 1876 the company had moved to a larger factory in London, and by 1897 it was registered as a limited company with capital of £100,000. The brand remains one of the most recognized fruit salt products worldwide, though many generic and regional versions now exist.
Who Should Be Cautious
The biggest concern with fruit salt is its sodium load. People managing high blood pressure, heart failure, or kidney disease are typically advised to limit sodium, and a single dose delivers a significant chunk of a day’s allowance. Taking multiple doses compounds this quickly.
Fruit salt can also interact with certain medications. Because it changes the acidity of your stomach, it can affect how well your body absorbs other drugs taken around the same time. If you take prescription medications regularly, spacing them apart from an antacid dose by at least two hours is a common precaution.
For pregnant women, occasional use is generally considered low-risk, but the sodium content again becomes a factor since fluid retention and blood pressure changes are already concerns during pregnancy. Children’s dosing is lower than adult dosing, and most products specify age cutoffs on their packaging.