Study: Drinking cola might not dislodge that food stuck in your throat after all

Enlarge / An ice-cold glass of cola is undoubtedly refreshing, but it probably won't help with food stuck in the throat. (credit: Cocktailmarler/CC BY-SA 4.0)

There's always a marked increase in ER visits during the holiday season involving people getting bites of partially chewed turkey or similar foodstuffs stuck in their throat. Googling home remedies might encourage you to just sip on some cola instead, letting the carbonation help dislodge the food and sparing you an emergency endoscopy. Sure, cola is cheap and widely available, with few (if any) side effects. But you might want to think twice about skipping the ER, according to a new study published in the British Medical Journal that concluded this popular folk remedy probably doesn't help clear a blocked esophagus.

"Emergency physician Elise Tiebie, the driving force behind this project, saw online that this was really a rumor, from tip websites to Wikipedia as well as an anecdote in a British newspaper about paramedics saving a life by using cola. I've even heard doctors recommending it,” said co-author Arjan Bredenoord, a gastroenterologist at Amsterdam University Medical Centers. Getting food stuck in one's esophagus "can be really dangerous, so it's important that people get the correct treatment," he added. "That's why we wanted to check if this works."

The technical term is "esophageal food bolus obstruction," more commonly known as "steakhouse syndrome" or "backyard barbecue syndrome." It's usually pieces of poorly masticated meat (steak, poultry, pork) that get stuck, and when that happens, the unfortunate soul will have trouble swallowing to the point of drooling (since they can't even swallow their saliva). They may also have chest or neck pain, and there's always the chance that the esophagus will be perforated, leading to aspiration into the lungs. Hence, a trip to the ER is necessary.