How can humans drink water without ruining the stomach acid in your stomach?
In: Biology
Why do you think drinking water *would* “ruin” stomach acid? Acid can’t be “ruined” by water. It can’t even get diluted. The pH of stomach acid is <1. That means your stomach acid is 100,000 x more acidic than water (pH of ~7). You would have to be drinking multiple liters of water in quick succession to dilute your stomach acid in any meaningful way. Furthermore, there is not just a “pool” of acid in your stomach. When you eat, your stomach makes more and it makes as much as it needs. If you did drink so much water that your stomach acid got diluted, your body would just make more to compensate.
Drinking water does dilute the acid. There are stomach lining cells tasked with monitoring this and adding more acid when a dilution/neutralization occurs.
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