People who overeat during national holidays and national sporting events like the Super Bowl are 10 times more likely to need emergency medical attention for food obstruction than at any other time of the year, according to a study in the journal Gastroenterology Report.
Asiam Shuja, MD, a gastroenterologist at UF Health Jacksonville, led a research team that examined data collected of 11 years from the emergency room at St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Boston.
From 2001 to 2012, 38 people underwent an emergency procedure on the esophagus during or just after a holiday or major sporting event, and nearly 37 percent of those were due to food impaction. In comparison, 81 people had the same procedure two weeks before and two weeks after the event, and less than 4 percent of those were due to food impaction.
The most commonly impacted foods were turkey (50 percent) chicken (29 percent) and beef (21 percent).
"We think the main message here is for people to be aware and not to, for lack of a better word, overindulge," said Dr. Shuja. "Not only the amount of food you're eating during the holiday or event, but the size of the portion you're eating can have a tremendous impact."