I’m wondering on a nutritional level how the body takes nutrients in when drinking smoothies and the likes versus eating the ingredients separately
In: Biology
Generally speaking there is no difference. You chew your food up and swallow it into the stomach where it is broken down even more through acid and muscular contractions. The resulting slurry is then passed into the small intestines where the nutrients are absorbed into the blood in their most basic forms.
For example if you eat a ham sandwich by the time the nutrients are passing into your blood they are in the form of amino acids, you don’t just have pork chunks being circulated through your veins. Taking your food in the form of a smoothie is just like very thorough chewing, it doesn’t change the process significantly.
The main difference is the functional need to chew and “pre-digest” food. In liquid form that’s unnecessary.
But in the stomach, acids break down bonds to isolate nutrients to be absorbed into the blood.
The other difference is the way your body reacts to those foods. Solid foods will create a feeling of being full quicker, to prevent over eating as it takes a bit longer for the stomach to digest.
Evidence suggests that liquid food might also provide a feeling of being full for longer, making you want to eat less frequently.
This is part of the reason why eating liquid foods is “softer/easier” on the stomach than solid food.
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