How are chemicals like Isopropyl Alcohol and Sodium Hydroxide highly toxic on their own, but are safe when in a solution like Gaviscon?
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Neither of those ingredients are in gaviscon, so I’m not sure what you are talking about. If you can name an edible product that contains those ingredients, please post it.
Isopropyl alcohol is not considered safe to consume. It is not found in any food or medicine. Having said that, isopropyl alcohol is not much worse than ethanol (regular alcohol) and probably has fewer long term toxic effects.
You may be thinking of propylene glycol which is used in some food additives and medicines as a solvent, which is non-toxic.
Sodium hydroxide is harmful because it is a very strong alkali. The strong alkali will damage body tissues. However, as an alkali it can be used in small amounts to neutralise acids. Medicines which may be too acid, can have small amounts of sodium hydroxide added. The alkali and acid neutralise each other giving a final product which is safer than either one.
A similar process is used in making some food seasonings. A common seasoning called hydrolysed vegetable protein is made by boiling up vegetables in hydrochloric acid until they dissolve. Sodium hydroxide is then added to neutralise the acid, leaving behind sodium chloride (salt) and digested vegetables which have a savory, meaty flavour.
Neither on those are particularly toxic in dilute small amounts. IPA is about as toxic as ethanol, give or take a factor of two. Sodium hydroxide is a strong base, which makes it dangerous when concentrated, but it’s fairly harmless when dilute, or used to neutralize other ingredients. It;s traditionally used to make bagels or pretzels. That yummy brown crust needs a high pH for the reaction to take place in the oven.
There is an old saying, [the dose makes the poison](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_dose_makes_the_poison). This is because anything is toxic in high enough amounts, and anything can be considered nontoxic in low enough dose. You can literally drink too much water and die (it’s called water intoxication, or hyponatremia), and there is an amount of cyanide you can consume and be fine. Basically, the answer to your question is there isn’t nearly enough of either the isopropyl or the NaOH to be worrisome.
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