Athens, Greece – When cars had metallic bumpers, sodas were used to polish them, and popular acidic soft drinks has also been known to be a good toilet-bowl cleaner.
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Now, Greek gastroentrologists headed by Dr. Spiros Ladas at Athens University Medical School and Laikon Hospital have published a study proving that drinking Coca-Cola (the brand name provided in the article) can open up clogs in people with overly convoluted gastrointestinal systems caused by the ingestion of digested fruits and vegetables. They published their findings on Monday in the journal Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics.
In the past decade, 24 scientific papers involving 46 patients have been published around the world. Such clogs are called phytobezoars.
Drinking Coca-Cola, the researchers said, and sometimes the use of endoscopy, dissolved the phytobezoars of over 90 percent of the patients, making open gastric surgery unnecessary.
Phytobezoars are composed of indigestible cellulose, tannin and lignin from ingested vegetables and fruits, including pineapples and persimmons – which are not harmful to healthy people but can cause clogs in those who have previously undergone gastrointestinal surgery or suffer complications resulting from diabetes.
The clogs involving pineapples and persimmons are called diospyrobezoars and are the most difficult to break up. Persimmons are very popular in the Far East, and as they are eaten with the skin, they cause problems in people who previously underwent gastrointestinal surgery.
Conservative medical treatment to dissolve the bezoars has included the provision of proteolytic enzymes, cellulase to eliminate cellulose, or the introduction of an endoscope to try to break up the clog. When the Greeks first published in 2002 the possibility of using Coca-Cola – either by drinking it or by gastric lavage (stomach pumping) – it was tried at various medical centers.
Now the researchers are able to pronounce the soft drink therapy a success. Even without using an endoscope, Coca-Cola dissolves bezoars in half of all cases, they wrote, thus drinking it “should be considered the treatment of choice” in such cases. “Moreover, availability, low cost, rapid way of action, simplicity in administration and safety renders Coca-Cola a cost-effective therapy for gastric phytobezoars,” the study said.
Asked to comment, Prof. Yaron Niv – chief of gastroenterology at the Rabin Medical Center- Beilinson Campus, Petah Tikva – told The Jerusalem Post that, as it happens, “Ladas is a very good friend of mine and told me about this observation a while ago.”
As chronic drinking of highly sweetened beverages such as cola has been blamed by health experts for being involved in the development of obesity and by dentists for tooth decay, it should not be recommended to people for medical treatment if they do not have bezoars.
Content is provided courtesy of the Jerusalem Post
Wonder from which century it is, and if it is possible to see a bigger pic of the cap?
Thanks
When I was a kid, not too long ago, my mom would get coca cola syrup from the pharmacy, and give it to us kids when we had a stomach ache. It didn’t taste so good (it was not dilluted) and I don’t remember how well it worked, but my mom was sure it was a good stomach medicine.
Uh Oh! Now they will charge $80.00 for a bottle of Coca Cola. Of course if you have Oxford that will only cost you $45.00 with a co-pay.
Obama care will approve this drug and the food stamp program will allow purchases of it. Of course Mayor Bloomkup will try to challenge the ruling, but will fail to the medicinal benefits of the new (or is it the old version) Coca Cola.
I think every mother knows that a kid with a stomach ache and fever needs either coke or gingerale minus the bubbles. It keeps them hydrated and flushes out the system. Juice might give them the runs.
Bloomberg will now approve the 16oz size for medical reasons.
Coca Cola is also good for drain clogs and cleaning plumbing crud, car battery terminals etc.
Cola is possibly better than water in cases where you need to keep the body hydrated. There are important minerals that are replaced with cola. Cola might not be good on an everyday basis, it messes up CA Calcium absorption.
I think it’s the “coke” and not the “cola” that makes this happen, otherwise, Pepsi would have the same benefit. Always knew Coke was better than Pepsi.
#7 : Yes, the phosphoric acid in Coca-Cola flushes calcium from your body.
I also read somewhere recently that Coca-Cola is reformulating its coloring agent because according to the laws of the State of California, it is a known carcinogen and must be labeled as such in California according to its laws. Once Coca-Cola reformulates its coloring agent so they don’t have to label it as a known carcinogen in California, the reformulation will be used nationwide.
I remember when they used the slogan, “Have a Coke and a smile”(?)Hmmm…
The tasteless jokes practically write themselves.