fact or fiction?

OK, still at work but a did a search in our medical library

Article Citation:
William S. Richardson, Amber M. Plaisance, Laura Periou, Jennifer Buquoi, and Deanna Tillery (2009) Long-term Management of Patients After Weight Loss Surgery. The Ochsner Journal: Fall 2009, Vol. 9, No. 3, pp. 154-159.


this link may work -
http://www.ochsnerjournal.org/doi/full/10.1043/1524-5012-9.3.154

I will still look for the article I had at home though

I would consider this a scholarly article, yes.  But all it says about carbonated drinks is that the "gas bubbles may stretch the pouch."  It doesn't say that they do stretch it and doesn't say how they might stretch it and doesn't incude any statistics that prove it.  It lists stats about the prevalence of things like strictures and bowel obstructions but not a stretched pouch due to carbonation. 

I realize that nothing posted on an internet forum is scholarly.  And I apologize if I misunderstood your earlier post in which I thought you were saying the articles you posted links to were scholarly.

I suspect no one has really studied this issue because common sense just says that carbonated drinks can't stretch the pouch.  If one understands that there are openings at both the top and the bottom of the pouch, it seems obvious to me that carbonated drinks could not stretch the pouch.  However, while that seems like common sense to me, apparently it doesn't seem like common sense to everyone since many people seem to think that it can stretch the pouch.

No, it does appear like common sense however, I have to wonder why so many health care professionals feel it is their duty to tell patients it will stretch their pouch when essentially it won't.
I haven't had soda, nor do I intend to but I don't think I would like being lied to either.

Since we have already dispensed with the scholarly aspect....

Unfortunately, many surgeons would rather try to SCARE their patients into complying with the surgeon's preference for them to give up carbonated drinks than to give them the FACTS about the legitimate reasons that carbonated drinks are not very good for you (even when they are calorie free) and let the patients make their own decisions. Stretching the pouch isn't really the problem in the first place since it naturally expands a bit over the first couple of years... The problem is when you stretch the stoma and your pouch and intestine then essentially become one large stomach.

Lora

Kelly,
The article I had saved on my home computer is NOT a scholarly source! I don't see anything scholarly other than the one article and as you pointed out it was very vague.
LOL - actually the information came from the bariatric community!
Here is the link to what I read before -
I have to say I am not fond of this site anyway.
http://www.bariatriccookery.com/blow-surgery-fizz/

Anyway thanks Kelly!!

Thanks for posting the question, I too was wondering....

 If I had a nickle for everytime a healthcare professional told me something that was just plain wrong, I'd be able to buy myself a Starbucks lattee.

I like to think of medical professionals as lighthouses, but we have to steer our own boats.  We need to use our eyes to see the water crashing against the rocks, our ears to here approaching thunder and our mind to make good logical decisions.  The medical professional isn't on my boat .. they only see you from a distance.  I use them as my guiding light to make sure I continue going towards the light, but I manage the waves and detours to get there.

When researching through the internet, I search for the latest information (I check the dates of the studies).  I also heavily consider the source (as described above).  I also like to critically review the studies methodology.  Was the sample source large enough, did they make large sweeping conclusions based on limited data, are there more than one studies that can replicate the results, did they effectively eliminate the variables.