Whether quaffing on a cold beer, or sucking ice cubes is your summer’s biggest pleasure, don’t do it too much too often—even though it may sound cruel.
“It is for your stomach’s sake,” said Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) Practitioners. “And all begin with the temperature difference.”
The truth is, the temperature of cold drink or food is some 20 degrees lower than that of our stomach (in the case of frozen food such as ice cream or shaved ice, the difference is even bigger). And every time when we drink/eat cold thing, our body has to use additional energy to warm the stomach up before the digestion takes place. The colder the beverage/food, the larger the pressure to the stomach.
Furthermore, as the stomach needs to protect itself so as not being broken down together with the food ingested, there is a mucus coating on the mucous membrane in the stomach that prevents the organ from self-digestion. When chill substances enter into the stomach, the blood vessels in the mucous membrane of the stomach will contract abruptly making the blood flow decrease, thus thinning the mucous layer that covers the mucous membrane. With this condition occurs repeatedly over a long period of time, the protective mechanism of the stomach mucous membrane will be undermined by gastric juice and protease, causing poor digestion and more vulnerable to chronic gastritis.
The bottom line is, our stomach requires a warm (body temperature) environment; often treating it cold is not likely to result in good digestive system. So… is there any option that can save us from summer heat without debilitating the stomach? “Besides cool water, due to its high water content, a piece of watermelon is always good on a hot day,” TCM Practitioners recommended.
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