When football fans chowed down on platters of chicken wings and heaps of nachos during Sunday’s Super Bowl, they were at a higher risk of a medical emergency.
People are 10 times more likely to need medical attention for complications caused by food impaction during holidays and sporting events like the Super Bowl, said UF Health Jacksonville researcher Dr. Asim Shuja.
Food impaction is when food gets stuck in the esophagus. It can be caused by eating too
much, eating too quickly or not chewing.
“People should be aware, be- cause it is a very preventable gastrological emergency,” Suja said.
The study, conducted from 2001 to 2012, took data from Boston’s St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center, he said.
Suja said 38 people underwent an emergency procedure on the esophagus within three days of a holiday or sporting event, and about 37 percent of those were due to food impactions.
During other periods, only 4 percent of people undergoing the same procedure suffered from food impactions, he said.
Patients should seek treatment within 12 hours of feeling some- thing stuck in their throat or experiencing difficulty swallowing food, Shuja said.
Thanksgiving and Christmas had the most food impaction cases, said Dr. Thormika Keo, a gastroenterologist in Temple, Texas, who worked on the study.
The result can be life threatening because it can block a person’s airways, Keo said.
“So really the holidays that everybody thinks of in America as eating and being part of the family and a big meal, people got food stuck,” Keo said.
About a dozen people wait in line for The Social at Midtown's Super Bowl Party and All You Can Eat Buffet. The buffet included macaroni and cheese, filet mignon, hors d'oeuvres and much more.
