Can I drink water while eating

2024 Author: James Gerald | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 14:00

Many people drink plain water during meals, washing down even the first courses with it. They are accustomed to this, and do not think whether it is possible to drink water while eating, it is harmful or not.

Is it harmful or not?

Admirers of healthy eating believe that drinking water with meals should not be. They explain that the gastric juice naturally secreted by the digestive organs is diluted with water. It seems to them that water removes improperly digested foods from the stomach into the intestines.

Whether it is possible to drink water during meals and after is a difficult question. Nutritionists answer it. They explain that the process of digestion begins with the anticipation of food - from this, salivation is formed, which contributes to the beginning of the digestion of food.

After all, saliva contains the necessary enzymes, softens foods with chewing. It is not without reason that it is said that you need to chew each spoonful of food at least 30 times. During this time, food is sufficiently mixed with saliva, it receives enzymes important for softening products. Then, the food, already softened with enzymes, enters the stomach, where it enters the acidic environment of the gastric juice, and, gradually being digested, passes into the intestines.

After 4 hours, a liquefied mass is formed in the stomach from the products that have entered it - chyme. He needs the enzymes secreted by each section of the intestine so that he gives up all of his nutrients.

Supplementing the chyme with water speeds up the process of its removal from the stomach, it additionally moisturizes the undigested food, and the stomach is emptied much faster than with the natural processes of digestion. It is up to the person to drink water while eating or not, without thinking whether it is useful.

Interesting! Symptoms of Vitamin D Deficiency in Adults

Water does not affect acidity

The human body is a well-coordinated system. When a difficult-to-digest food remains in the stomach, it itself produces an additional amount of enzymes with high acidity of juice, which copes with heavy food.

If a person, feeling a heaviness in the stomach, drinks water, it does not affect the regulation of acidity. According to research, food slightly reduces acidity, which is restored by normal digestion.

The same studies prove that the additional volume of water does not change the rate of digestion, does not take away undigested solid foods with it into the intestine, they remain in it until they receive the required amount of enzymes before going into chyme.

Scientists have proven that drinking water while eating is possible, but the question of whether it is harmful or beneficial remains open. There is only a firm statement that liquid leaves the stomach quickly, leaving solid food particles in it, without affecting their digestion in any way, without stretching the gastric walls.

Pros of drinking food with water

For people eating dry food, drinking water is beneficial. Nutritionists warn that drinking dry water while eating is useful, only you must first thoroughly chew the food so that it is sufficiently saturated with saliva with natural enzymes and swallow it. Then drinking will not be harmful.

In addition, in order to drink water, a person briefly stops the process of absorbing food, and pauses slow down the meal. Because of this, a person eats less, does not overeat. The same applies to tea, when a person is used to drinking tea, and not water with meals.

Does not affect the digestion of food and the temperature of the additional liquid drunk. The stomach has a temperature equalization function. At the same time, scientists warn against very hot drinks, they must be cooled to 65 ° C.

The inside of the stomach is covered with folds, this was done by nature so that it stretches 4-8 times, depending on the food eaten. In the structure of the stomach there is a gatekeeper valve, which is closed while the stomach does its work and digests food into a chyme state.

Interesting! Gallstones - symptoms and treatment

However, the gatekeeper opens to allow excess fluid that the person drinks with food as it warms to stomach temperature. Solid food components do not pass into the pylorus until they are crushed under the influence of gastric juice to particles of 2-3 mm.

In a passive state, the stomach is a muscular tissue organ. It allows you to intensively knead food, alternately tensing the muscle walls and folds. However, he needs food that is already chopped, chewed, softened by salivary enzymes. Products are softened only in this way, but not with an additional volume of water.

Many experts in the question of whether it is possible to drink water while eating, lean towards both sides - not harmful, but not very useful.