Coca Cola as a Contraceptive

Can we really use Coca Cola as contraception? It does seem that it kills many sperm cells!

Coca Cola kills about 30 per cent of sperm cells

In the early 1950s, women believed that shaking a can of Coca Cola and drinking it after sexual intercourse is sufficient protection against pregnancy. Of course, this was only a myth. A gynaecologist from Boston, Deborah Anderson, conducted a study with her colleagues in 1985. They tried to determine if it’s true that we can see Coca Cola as an effective contraceptive. Naturally, the myth wasn’t confirmed, but at the same time they found that a can of Coca Cola destroys about 30 per cent of sperm cells.

Coca Cola as part of a contraceptive folklore

We therefore cannot use Coca Cola as a contraceptive method. An average spermicide kills about 85 per cent of sperm cells. “Coca Cola would definitely not be an effective contraceptive method because sperms swim too fast,” Anderson said, “but Coca Cola containing high levels of sugar kills some sperms very quickly, probably because sperms absorb sugar. Then they sort of explode.”

Let us also mention that Anderson tested diet Coca Cola in 1985 and established that diet Coca Cola kills fewer sperm cells than the usual variety containing more sugar. In any case, it isn’t recommended to drink larger quantities of Coca Cola in any of its forms.

The research won Ig Nobel prize

Anderson and her colleagues received the alternative “Ig Nobel” prize for their research. The prize is awarded to serious studies that examine silly myths. The award is meant as an alternative to scientific and serious Nobel prizes for medicine, chemistry, physics, economics, literature and peace.