Soak cold rice in hot water. I don’t recommend you eat this bowl of food from the movie “Fanhua” every day!

Have you been watching the hit drama "Fang Hua" these days? The ups and downs of the plot, the impressive Shanghainese... In addition to these, the food in the drama also attracted everyone's attention, such as Hu Ge's "Bao Zong Pao Fan"!

Image from: Screenshot from the TV series "Fanhua"

Ma Yili, who plays Lingzi, the proprietress of Night Tokyo who made this dish in the drama, even recommended it on the spot, saying that she still often eats soaked rice for breakfast:

"I want to eat soaked rice at any time of the day. Every year during the Chinese New Year when I visit relatives and eat a lot, I must take out the leftover cold rice, soak it in boiling water, and serve it with side dishes. One bowl of rice makes me feel sick."

So if you eat soaked rice for a long time, is it really good for your stomach? The answer may surprise you!

Rice soaking is a process in which rice is made softer and easier to digest because soup or water is added. Generally speaking, rice soaking is easier to digest and puts less burden on the stomach, so it is often mistakenly considered a way to nourish the stomach.

However, what many people don’t know is that if you eat soaked rice exclusively for a long time, it may cause some stomach problems .

The stomach is a “use it or lose it” organ

The stomach is an important organ in our digestive system. Its specific functions include storing food, digesting food, secreting gastric acid and digestive enzymes, etc.

Storing food: When the human body ingests food, the stomach temporarily stores the food in the stomach through movements such as relaxation and contraction, and grinds and stirs it to make it easier to digest.

Digestion of food: The stomach chemically and mechanically digests food by secreting substances such as gastric acid and digestive enzymes, breaking it down into smaller molecules such as amino acids, monosaccharides and fatty acids.

Secretory function: The stomach can secrete a variety of substances, such as gastric acid, digestive enzymes, intrinsic factor and gastrin, which are involved in digestion and regulating gastric motility.

Defensive function: The gastric mucosal barrier, gastric acid and other immune cells can prevent the invasion of pathogenic microorganisms and foreign bodies, and protect the stomach from damage.

Absorption function: After digestion by gastric acid and digestive enzymes, small molecules such as amino acids, monosaccharides and fatty acids in food will be absorbed into the blood for use by the body.

Rice soaked in soup is indeed easy to digest, but “easy to digest” does not mean “good for the stomach”.

The stomach is an organ that "use it or lose it". When the stomach is in a special period of discomfort, eating soft and easily digestible foods such as porridge and noodles is indeed a "must". But after the special period, you should gradually supplement comprehensive nutrition to enhance the defense ability of the gastric mucosa and the body's immunity. Eating soft, semi-liquid, and liquid foods for a long time will weaken the stomach's ability to digest and process food.

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Our stomach will dynamically adjust the function of the gastrointestinal tract according to the amount of food we eat and the degree of digestion of the food. If we eat too soft and mushy food for a long time, the digestive function of the stomach may gradually weaken. On the contrary, if we often eat harder or higher fiber food, the digestive function of the stomach may be exercised and improved.

Specifically, when food enters the stomach through the esophagus, gastric peristalsis will slowly push the food to the lower part of the stomach, and the stomach will secrete gastric acid and digestive enzymes to help digest the food, and then gradually push the food into the small intestine to complete the digestion process. This process requires the stomach muscles to peristalsis and stir to fully mix the food with gastric acid and digestive enzymes. If the stomach is allowed to do this work frequently, the stomach muscles and digestive function will be exercised and strengthened.

However, if you eat too soft or easily digestible food for a long time, the stomach does not need to move and stir strongly, and the stomach muscles and digestive function may gradually degenerate. This will lead to a decrease in the stomach's ability to digest slightly harder or higher fiber foods, and may even cause stomach problems such as indigestion.

Beware of these 5 stomach-damaging behaviors

In addition to long-term consumption of soft and rotten food, the following bad habits that are often ignored by us may also cause stomach diseases:

1. Eating too much salt : high salt will reduce gastric acid secretion and lower the defense ability of gastric mucosa. Once the mucus barrier on the surface of gastric mucosa is damaged, it is easier to be infected with Helicobacter pylori, increasing the risk of atrophic gastritis.

2. Overeating: Overeating will cause the stomach to expand rapidly in a short period of time, increasing the burden on the stomach, which is likely to cause damage to the gastric mucosa and gastric dysfunction, resulting in problems such as bloating, slowed gastric motility, delayed gastric emptying, and increasing the risk of gastroesophageal reflux.

3. Excessive drinking and smoking: Alcohol and tobacco contain harmful substances that can stimulate gastric gland cells and lead to excessive gastric acid secretion. Drinking a lot of alcohol can stimulate gastric acid secretion, leading to excessive gastric acid, which can damage the gastric mucosa. Especially drinking on an empty stomach can cause more serious damage to the stomach.

Smoking affects the protective ability of the gastric mucosa, making it vulnerable to damage. Long-term drinking and severe smoking can also cause gastric diseases such as gastric ulcers and gastric cancer.

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4. Long-term use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs: Excessive or long-term use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, such as aspirin, ibuprofen, etc., may damage the gastric mucosa and cause gastric ulcers.

5. Not paying attention to food hygiene: Pathogenic bacteria and parasites in food can easily lead to gastrointestinal infections, or the food processing environment is not clean enough, which may cause diseases such as gastroenteritis.

In addition, not paying attention to the use of public chopsticks and spoons and separate meals when eating will increase the probability of Helicobacter pylori infection. Long-term Helicobacter pylori infection will lead to chronic gastritis, cell mutation and proliferation, and increase the risk of gastric cancer in the long run.

In short, hot water soaked rice originated from the living habits of the Shanghai working class in the past. At that time, most people did not have gas in their homes, and it was troublesome to light a coal stove to cook rice early in the morning. Therefore, boiling water to soak overnight rice and eating a few bites seemed very convenient. Eating soaked rice like Bao Zong, with six side dishes (fermented bean curd, various pickles), is very particular. But to sum it up, it can be summed up in one word: salty, with very limited nutritional value.

Therefore, for the sake of good health, it is also recommended that you balance your nutrition and consume an appropriate amount of nutrients such as protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals to ensure the diversity of food intake .

Finally, I would like to emphasize that although "Bao Zong Pao Fan" is soft and delicious, if you eat it alone for a long time or take too much soup, it may have adverse effects on the stomach and may also cause the risk of malnutrition. In order to maintain good health, you should try to maintain a balanced diet.

At the same time, avoid bad eating habits and lifestyles. If symptoms of stomach discomfort occur, seek medical attention promptly and follow the doctor's advice for treatment and conditioning.

Planning and production

This article is a work of Science Popularization China-Starry Sky Project

Produced by: Science Popularization Department of China Association for Science and Technology

Producer: China Science and Technology Press Co., Ltd., Beijing Zhongke Xinghe Culture Media Co., Ltd.

Author: Li Tian, ​​Chief Physician, Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University

Reviewer: Tang Qin, Director and Researcher of the Science Popularization Department of the Chinese Medical Association

Planning丨Yinuo

Editor: Yinuo, Linlin