There is a popular opinion that you should not drink food with food, as it has a bad effect on digestion. We decided to check whether this statement has scientific basis.
They write that drinking food down is harmful sites, dedicated to a healthy lifestyle, supposedly the liquid dilutes gastric juice, interferes with the digestion of food and contributes to indigestion. There are articles about this in some news media, for example, on the websites "Moscow 24", "Arguments and Facts" and Ukrainian "1+1". Oddly enough, this information is found even on online shopping sites coffee And filters for water (although it would seem that they are the ones who are interested in us drinking as often as possible!). Some portals warn readers only from cold drinks during meals. The opinion about the dangers of drinking is widespread in English-speaking Internet.
One of the main arguments of those who believe that drinking while eating is harmful is the claim that 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 actually help you lose weight, and Shelton himself did not have a doctor’s license or medical education, we have already wrote. So in the issue with water, he 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 experiments, which refute the theory. One of them involved 126 people, each of whom was undergoing gastric surgery. They were divided into two groups: some underwent the operation on an empty stomach, others drank about 300 ml of liquid before the operation. As a result, everyone’s acid-base balance was normal, the difference between the groups was at the level of statistical error. Moreover, completely doesn't matterWhat to drink: water, tea, juice, coffee - none of these drinks significantly affects acidity. And then, if it were so easy to reduce the concentration of acid in the stomach, pharmaceutical companies would not make billions on drugs for 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 opponents of drinking is that liquid promotes the rapid removal of food from the stomach, which is why it does not have time to be completely digested, the body does not receive enough nutrients, and pieces of undigested food enter the intestines and lead to indigestion. But this is just a myth. Actually liquid is displayed from the stomach within 10–15 minutes, while the process of digesting solid food can take about four hours. So, you can’t drink for four hours? No, scientists provedthat liquid does not in any way affect the rate of elimination of solid food from the stomach. Quite the contrary: because of food, she herself lingers a little longer than usual.
Temperature of drinks too does not provide significant effect on digestion, since no matter how cold the drink is, it can lower the temperature in the stomach only for a very short time; after 5 minutes it will return to normal (more than 30 ° C). As we have already found out, food is digested in about 4 hours, so changing the temperature for a few minutes cannot affect this process in any way. Too hot drinks are more likely to cause damage - they increase risk of developing esophageal cancer.
In addition, water is the main element many fruits and vegetables. Thus, cucumbers and lettuce consist of 96% of it, tomatoes - 94%, eggplants - 92%, carrots - 87%. When chewing, the liquid is separated from the solid part and enters the stomach - in fact, at this moment we eat water. But no one, however, claims that these products negatively affect digestion. There are no articles about the dangers of soups, but these are literally “solid” products filled with liquid.
Not only scientists, but also practicing doctors are of the opinion that there is nothing wrong with drinking food. Florida MD Michael Picco believesthat it even improves digestion: water helps break down food, the body receives nutrients faster and easier. Nutritionist Tamara Duker Freuman assertsthat our stomach is capable of producing 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 while eating, you need to drink. Perhaps in this way the body gives signals that it is dehydrated, then the liquid will only be beneficial. Rospotrebnadzor specialists thinkIt’s a myth that drinking while eating is harmful. At the same time, they note that it is worth refraining from drinking directly while chewing food, since for proper digestion it must be well saturated with saliva.
Thus, there is no scientific evidence that drinking while eating is harmful. On the contrary, numerous diverse studies by scientists from different countries indicate that water - or any other liquid - cannot in any way interfere with the digestion of food. Researchers and doctors agree on this issue: if you are thirsty, you can drink completely calmly, there is nothing wrong with that.
Not true
Read on the topic:
- Is it true that an adult needs to drink 2 liters, or eight glasses, of water a day?
- Is it true that you can’t pour hot tap water into a kettle and drink it?
- Is it true that it is dangerous to mix boiled and unboiled water?
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