Medics have tested a folk recipe for food sticking in the throat
Holidays are a time of feasting. That is why on such days there is often an increase in the number of calls to the medical profession about food stuck in the esophagus. In the West, there is a popular folk recipe for this case: give a person a few sips of cola, of course, if he does not have blocked airways and does not choke (in this case, you should immediately call an ambulance). It is believed that the substances in the fizzy drink help to make the lump of stuck food more loose and make it easier to swallow. A team of doctors from the Netherlands decided to test whether the method really works on real emergency patients.
The doctors were prompted to experiment by the prevalence of the recommendation. The advice to use cola when food gets stuck in the esophagus can not only be easily found with a Google search, but also heard from some doctors. A few years ago, foreign media reported that an ambulance crew in Britain saved a man choking on a chicken by pouring Coca-Cola down his throat.
In addition, there have been previous scientific studies on the subject. A retrospective analysis of a small number of cases of cola use when food gets stuck in the esophagus showed that the effectiveness of the method ranges from 59 to 100 percent.
However, a group of medical professionals from the Netherlands, including emergency physicians and specialists in gastroenterology and hepatology, set out to test the Coke method more thoroughly. Their study was published by the journal BMJ.
Between December 2019 and mid-June 2022, the scientists conducted the experiment in the emergency departments of five Dutch hospitals. Fifty-one patients with complaints of food stuck in the esophagus were recruited to participate in the controlled randomized trial. Most of them had a lump in their esophagus due to poorly chewed meat, but there were also cases of stuck pieces of bread, French fries and sauerkraut.
While people were waiting for help in the ward, 28 of them were given regular Coca-Cola to drink. It was recommended to take small sips, interspersed with pauses. A total of up to 200 milliliters of the drink was allowed. Another 23 patients made up the control group. They were not given any drinks: people just waited until the stuck food itself moves down the esophagus, or the lump will be removed by doctors with the help of an endoscope.
In 17 people from the "coca-cola" group (61%), the condition improved: after the drink, the food partially or completely moved down the esophagus. However, the same percentage of improvement medics recorded in the control group - in 14 patients out of 23.
In other words, a significant part of people resolved the problem on their own, Coca-Cola had nothing to do with it, which was confirmed by the results of the control group.
Although the effectiveness of the folk recipe was not confirmed, medics did not rule out the possibility of using cola to alleviate the condition of food jamming, since such drinking did not lead to undesirable consequences. It is still not worth relying on this method completely: the researchers warned that it should not delay planned endoscopic treatment in case of such a need.
In light of the upcoming Christmas and New Year's celebrations, the study's lead author and professor of gastroenterology at the University of Amsterdam, Arjan Bredenoord, also reminded rules to avoid unpleasant eating situations.
"Chew your food well. Eat slowly, don't eat and talk at the same time. Take small bites," the expert advised.