IMPACT OF INGESTED LIQUIDS ON 24-HOUR AMBULATORY PH TESTS

A prospective investigation of the impact of ingested liquids on 24-hr pH test scores was conducted. Eighty-two patients contributed 142 sam ples. The liquids used were coffee/tea (N = 35), water (N = 32), fruit juice (N = 29), cola (N = 34), and beer (N = 12). The pH of cola, jui ce, and beer are approximately 3.0. The parameters studied included: t otal test time, total drink time, total minutes of pH < 4.0 during dri nk, minutes of < pH 4.0 10 min before drink, and minutes of pH < 4.0 1 0 min following drink. Analysis was performed using one-way ANOVA and repeated measures. Age of patients, total test timet and total time pH < 4.0 were not significantly different (P > 0.05). The total time to consume the drink was significantly greater (P < 0.05) for beer than a ll other liquids. The total time (7.7 +/- 6.0 min) pH < 4.0 for cola w as significantly different (P < 0.023) than beer (3.3 +/- 3.7 min), te a/coffee (1.4 +/- 6.5 min), and water (1.1 +/- 2.5 min). The percentag e of total time pH < 4.0 was not significantly different (P > 0.05) am ong any of the liquids. The percentage of time pH < 4.0 during the dri nk was the highest for cola (63 +/- 47%) and juice (51 +/- 57%); water , coffee/tea, and beer were not significantly different (P > 0.05). Al though the impact of cola and juice were the greatest, none of these h ad an impact that exceeded 0.5%. The lack of impact of beer appears to be due to the increased period of time it takes to consume. We conclu de that the impact of ingested fluids is minimal and can probably be d isregarded in most patient groups.