My dad seems to think that it it dilutes the gastric acid that digests the food in our stomach making it less than optimal.
I want to believe him but somehow it doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. What really happens if we drink a big cup of water just before or just after we eat?
In: Biology
Your father is not really being accurate. Water goes through the stomach incredibly quickly, and essentially doesn’t stay there for any length of time at all. And it is absorbed by the small intestines very quickly too. It only takes a few minutes for most of the water you drink to be in your bloodstream.
The only difference it would make between drinking water before and after is that the process of digestion requires a pretty good bit of water itself, so it dries you out a bit. So if you were on the verge of dehydration, then you would want to drink before you ate. But unless you are nearly dying of lack of hydration right then, it isn’t going to really make a difference.
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