Woman hospitalized with pain and vomiting—diet soda cured her

There are also trichobezoars, which are formed by consuming hair—something linked to hair-pulling and eating disorders (trichotillomania and trichophagia). Lactobezoars are made from milk products and mucus and are most often found in infants. Pharmacobezoars are masses formed from non-digestible ingredients in medications. And polybezoars are those made from various non-food items, such as plastics or papers. These are most often seen in people with disorders like Pica.

Simple solution

To see if the woman had a bezoar, doctors dropped an endoscope into her stomach and, sure enough, got close-up imaging of a large, greenish, gooey-looking mass covered in mucus in her stomach. It wasn’t blocking her stomach, but it was definitely taking up a lot of space and causing problems. (If you really want to see an image, there’s one here. But be warned, it’s gross.)

Methods for getting rid of a bezoar include surgically removing it or using an endoscopic procedure to break it into small pieces so it passes through the stomach. But, in recent years, doctors have started treatments with a gentler approach, trying first to dissolve it with chemicals. And the go-to chemical is, surprisingly, Coca-Cola.

According to an editorial published last year in the World Journal of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, the idea of using Coca-Cola for bezoars is thought to be based “on its acidic properties and the presence of carbonic and phosphoric acids, which can help break down the fibrous material in phytobezoars.” The authors of the NEJM case report, however, highlight that the bezoar-busting properties of Coca-Cola are not entirely understood.

Regardless, the editorial authors signal that Coca-Cola has become a first-line treatment for bezoars, and several case reports and studies support its use. A 2024 randomized controlled trial involving 160 patients in China with phytobezoars concluded that “Timely ingestion of Coca-Cola yields significant benefits, including a complete dissolution rate of 100 percent, a low incidence of gastric ulcers, no need for fragmentation, and reduced expenses.”