The decision to have Olympic swimmers compete in Paris' iconic River Seine has taken a toll on some of this year's athletes, prompting backlash and vomiting among some competitors. But a number of these swimmers—and the professionals around them—have been advising to drink a unique beverage to fight bacterial infections: Coca-Cola.
The beloved soda has seemingly become a go-to choice to purportedly cleanse swimmers' bodies of any germs. "The myth of Coca-Cola is true," Australian swimmer Moesha Johnson told The Wall Street Journal. "We will often have a Coca-Cola afterwards just to try to flush out anything inside of us." As for the questionable antibacterial benefits of cola, Johnson said, "I just do what I’m told by the professionals around me."
American distance swimmer Katie Grimes echoed a similar sentiment, albeit she drinks Coke for its sugar-replenishing benefits for athletes rather than to fight infection. "My coach advised me to [drink Coca-Cola] to restore those glycogen levels immediately," she said. “Not Diet Coke, just straight up Coke. Nothing does it better than that."
The idea that Coca-Cola can neutralize bacteria has shaky scientific backing, to say the least. Several doctors told the Journal as much, noting that a healthy stomach is more acidic than Coke, so the soda wouldn't do much to kill off any bacteria in your gut.
"These are young, athletic people, right? They’re going to be healthy people whose stomach acid is going to be nice and robust," American Gastroenterological Association president Dr. Maria Abreu said.
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A 2015 study published in the Cumhuriyet Science Journal found some evidence that could back up this old wives' tale of sorts. The waters of the Seine were reportedly testing for high levels of E. coli, fecal bacteria, and more in the days leading up to the kickoff of events like the triathlon. In their research, scientists discovered that cola fight some of these pathogens, as well as others like food-borne illnesses like salmonella.
"It was found that cola has a strong antibacterial effect on Bacillus cereus, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella enteritidis, [and] Yersinia enterocolitica bacteria," the paper said. Still, they cautioned that it wasn't totally conclusive evidence on cola's effect on these bacteria or others not mentioned. "At the end of the study, a comparison could not carried out as there was no study on the antibacterial effects of cola on various bacteria," they said.
If you made it out of the Seine without developing any illness (or needing any Coke to fight it off), consider yourself lucky.
