There is a popular opinion that you can’t drink food, as it does not affect digestion. We decided to check if such a statement has scientific justifications.
That it is harmful to drinking food is written sites, dedicated to a healthy lifestyle, supposedly liquid dilutes gastric juice, interferes with the digestion of food and contributes to indigestion. There are articles about this and in some news media, for example, on sites "Moscow 24", "Arguments and facts" and Ukrainian "1 + 1". Oddly enough, this information is found even on the websites of online stores coffee And filters For water (although it would seem that they are interested in us to drink as often as possible!). Some portals warn Readers only from cold drinking while eating. The opinion of the dangers of drinking is widespread and in English -speaking Internet.
One of the main arguments of those who believe that drinking during eating is harmful is the statement that the liquid dilutes gastric juice, reduces acidity and interferes with the digestion of food. Popularization of this opinion contributed Including the American naturopath Herbert Shelton, the founder of separate nutrition. The fact that such a diet does not really help to lose weight, and Shelton himself had neither a doctor’s license nor a medical education, we already They wrote. So, in the matter with water, it was based only on his personal opinion: there is not a single more or less convincing scientific study that would confirm this.
But there is Experimentswho refute the theory. One of them was attended by 126 people, each of whom had an operation on the stomach. They were divided into two groups: one operation was carried out on an empty stomach, others drank about 300 ml of liquid in front of it. As a result, the indicator of the acid-base balance was normal for everyone, the difference between the groups was at the level of statistical error. In addition, completely doesn't matterWhat to drink: water, tea, juice, coffee - none of these drinks significantly affects acidity. And then, if the concentration of acid in the stomach was so easy to reduce, pharmaceutical companies would not have earned billions on drugs from heartburn (It appears if gastric juice enters the esophagus). To get rid of it, it would be enough to drink a glass of water.
Another argument of the opponents of the decay-the liquid contributes to the rapid removal of food from the stomach, which is why it does not have time to completely digest, the body does not receive nutrients, and pieces of undigested food enter the intestines and lead to indigestion. But this is just a myth. Actually fluid Displayed From the stomach for 10-15 minutes, while the process of digestion of solid food can occupy about four hours. It turns out you can’t drink four hours? No, scientists provedthat the liquid does not affect the rate of removal of solid food from the stomach. Rather, on the contrary: because of food, it itself lingers a little longer than usual.
The temperature of the drinks too does not provide A significant impact on digestion, since no matter how cold the drink may be, it can lower the temperature in the stomach only for a very short time, after 5 minutes it will again recover to a regular (more than 30 ° C). As we have already found out, the food is digested about 4 hours, so that the temperature change for several minutes cannot affect this process. Too hot drinks can rather damage - they Increase The risk of developing esophagus cancer.
In addition, water is the main element Many fruits and vegetables. So, cucumbers and salad leaves consist of 96%of it, tomatoes - by 94%, eggplant - by 92%, carrots - by 87%. When chewing, the liquid is separated from the firm part and enters the stomach - in fact, at this moment we eat water. But no one nevertheless claims that these products adversely affect digestion. There are no articles on the dangers of soups, but these are literally “hard” products flooded with liquid.
Not only scientists, but also practicing doctors are of the opinion that there is nothing wrong with drinking food. Doctor of Medical Sciences from Florida Michael Picko He thinksthat this even improves digestion: water helps to split food, the body receives nutrients faster and easier. Nutritionist Tamara Duker Framiman claimsthat our stomach is able to develop any amount of acid necessary for digestion, so it is impossible to “dilute” gastric juice. Pediatrician Evgeny Komarovsky too speaksthat if you want to drink during meals, you need to drink. Perhaps in this way the body gives signals that it is dehydrated, then the liquid will only benefit. Specialists of Rospotrebnadzor They thinkthat the harm from drinking during food is a myth. At the same time, they note that it is worth refraining from drinking directly in the process of chewing food, since for proper digestion it should be well saturated with saliva.
Thus, there is no scientific evidence that drinking during food is harmful. On the contrary, numerous various studies of scientists from different countries indicate that water - or any other liquid - cannot prevent the digestion of food. Researchers and doctors are in solidarity in this matter: if you want to drink, you can drink quite calmly, there is nothing wrong with this.
Not true
Read on the topic:
- Is it true that an adult needs to drink 2 liters per day, or eight glasses, water?
- Is it true that you can not pour into a kettle and drink hot water from a tap?
- Is it true that it is dangerous to mix boiled and unprepared water?
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