Dietitians often forbid drinking water and other beverages with meals.
Among the many dietary recommendations, there is often advice not to drink with meals. What is the reason for such an opinion and how justified is it, is it possible to drink with meals, or is it harmful, reports the Chronicle.info with reference to Domashniy Ochag. to reduce appetite, but refrain from drinking during and immediately after meals. What motivates this requirement and how true is it?
As a rule, the advice not to drink with meals is based on arguments:
- Water will dilute the gastric juice and thus worsen digestion. Often people who have been diagnosed with gastritis or other diseases of the gastrointestinal tract receive such advice.
- You will quickly gain weight because you will eat more than you planned. The argument is justified by the fact that drinking liquids will make it easier to chew food, and you will get carried away without noticing the feeling of fullness in time.
- Water will “push” undigested foods from the stomach into the intestines unprocessed, disrupting the digestion process.
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How are things really and is it really impossible to drink with meals?
There is not a single authoritative study that would confirm the harm of drinking during meals and the deterioration of digestion. Many doctors, including Dr. Yevgeny Komarovsky, debunked the myth about the inadmissibility of drinking food and suggested that everyone be guided only by their own preferences.
Why can you drink while eating? Water does not interfere with food digestion
As Eugene Komarovsky notes, «water and solid food move in different ways.» The process of digestion in the stomach lasts about 4 hours, after which the chyme — a soft mass treated with gastric juice — enters the intestines. Water leaves the stomach much faster — a full glass of liquid will go into the intestines in about 10 minutes, «leaking» into the stomach through undigested food.
Water does not dilute gastric juice
If she were able to dilute it in any significant way, heartburn sufferers could relieve discomfort by drinking a glass of liquid. However, this does not happen — even a liter of water does not reduce the acidity of gastric juice, since the body, having determined the decrease in its concentration, simply produces an additional amount. Note that many fruits contain 70-80% water, which also does not interfere with digestion.
Water does not push undigested food into the intestines ahead of time
Scientific studies prove that liquid leaves the stomach much earlier than solid food and does not push undigested food into the intestines.
Dr. the esophagus with the help of drinks will damage not drinking during meals, but the intake of foods that are not properly processed by saliva into the stomach. It is a failure at the initial stage of digestion that will disrupt its process. In such cases, the doctor recommends changing the approach to the child's nutrition and preparing meals with a softer consistency, as well as showing children how to chew food properly.
Modern people often do not get enough liquid. Dehydration can cause dizziness, nausea, and headaches. Under such circumstances, doctors call the habit of drinking food rather useful — this way the body is guaranteed to receive additional fluid. However, doctors do not necessarily recommend drinking water with meals — according to them, it depends only on habit.