Will drinking ice water often hurt your stomach? Will drinking hot water be fine?

Reviewer of this article: Chen Haixu, Deputy Director and Master Supervisor of the Second Medical Center of PLA General Hospital

The weather is getting hotter and hotter. The fun of life for many people is probably a glass of ice water before and after meals, but there are always people reminding "don't drink ice water, it's bad for your stomach" ~

Many people think that cold water is not suitable for drinking, while hot water is a good medicine. Colds, fevers, stomachaches, etc. are all emphasized to "drink more". But have you ever thought about whether ice water really hurts the stomach? What are the factors related to the high incidence of gastrointestinal diseases in my country?

01

Does ice water really hurt your stomach?

Many people think that drinking ice water will cause diarrhea, abdominal pain and other problems, so they regard ice water as a "disaster". In fact, stomach discomfort cannot be blamed solely on ice water.

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Ice water actually has little effect on the stomach

When cold food passes through the mouth and esophagus and reaches the stomach, it is no longer as cold. Especially when you hold it in your mouth and eat it slowly or eat very little, it generally does not harm your stomach and intestines.

Humans are warm-blooded animals with a strict temperature regulation mechanism. The temperature changes in the stomach are controlled within 0.3℃. When you drink ice water, your body shivers. This is the body's temperature center sending a signal to the body to generate more heat through muscle tremors to restore the stomach temperature to normal.

As for why some people feel uncomfortable after drinking ice water, it is mainly due to:

Sensitive to cold things

Different people have different reactions and tolerance to cold. If you feel uncomfortable after drinking ice water, it may be because the smooth muscles of the digestive tract are relatively more sensitive to temperature, and the cold food you eat causes spasms in the gastrointestinal tract.

The water is not clean

Discomfort from drinking ice water may also be related to unclean water. If there are some bacteria, parasites, etc. in the water, it may cause abdominal pain and diarrhea.

People who are really not suitable for drinking ice water

Although there is not much difference between cold water and hot water in essence, this group of people still need to pay more attention:

People with poor gastrointestinal tract, such as those with irritable bowel syndrome, poor gastrointestinal digestion, or gastrointestinal diseases. Ice water can stimulate the temporary contraction of gastric blood vessels and intestinal spasms, leading to stomach pain, diarrhea, etc.

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People with a history of migraine. When these people eat cold food, their oral mucosa will be irritated, which will lead to constriction of blood vessels in the head and face, affecting the nerve center and causing headaches. Although the duration is not long, it is very uncomfortable.

After exercise. After exercise, the gastrointestinal blood vessels expand and blood circulation speeds up. Drinking ice water at this time will stimulate the gastrointestinal blood vessels and mucosa, causing them to shrink sharply, leading to gastrointestinal spasm, resulting in abdominal pain, bloating, diarrhea and other symptoms.

Tips

The higher the temperature of hot water, the better it is. On the contrary, too hot water will damage the esophageal mucosa and digestive tract mucosa, increasing the possibility of esophageal cancer. Therefore, it is advisable to drink mild water and eat food in daily life, not exceeding 65℃.

02

There are 6 main causes of high incidence of gastrointestinal diseases among Chinese people

Helicobacter pylori infection

Helicobacter pylori is a bacterium that lives in the stomach and duodenum. It can cause mild chronic inflammation of the gastric mucosa and even cause gastric ulcers and gastric cancer.

The infection rate of Helicobacter pylori in my country is as high as 59%, and 700 million people are infected. This is mainly related to some daily habits, such as inadequate cleaning of tableware, using chopsticks for multiple purposes, passing food by mouth when feeding children, and grabbing food directly with hands.

Therefore, we need to strictly pay attention to personal hygiene in our lives. Washing hands frequently before and after meals, using public chopsticks, and eating less raw food can reduce the risk of infection to a certain extent.

drink wine

The main chemical component of alcohol is ethanol. After drinking, ethanol will be stored in the stomach, which can make the gastric mucosa thinner and cause the mucosal epithelial cells to necrotize and fall off, thus causing symptoms of chronic superficial gastritis such as stomach pain and acid reflux. It is better not to drink alcohol if you can.

High-salt diet

Pickles, bacon, salted fish, fermented bean curd, etc. are all very popular traditional foods, but the common feature of these foods is that they contain too much salt. Long-term high-salt diet will inhibit the secretion of gastric acid, reduce the resistance of gastric mucosa, and even lead to a series of gastrointestinal diseases such as gastritis, gastric ulcer, and gastric perforation.

In addition, some high-salt foods also contain large amounts of nitrates. After being reduced in the stomach, they can combine with amines in the food to form N-nitroso compounds such as ammonium nitrite, which are carcinogenic, thereby inducing cell malignancy.

Therefore, the daily salt intake should be less than 5 grams, and pickled and processed foods should be eaten less. In addition, when purchasing packaged foods, it is best to look at the ingredient list and it is recommended to choose low-salt ones.

Irregular meals

Many people are hungry one meal and full the next. If the three meals are irregular and the gastric acid secretion is not at a fixed time, it is easy to break the normal balance, causing excessive or insufficient gastric acid secretion, thus inducing indigestion, acid reflux, gastric erosion, gastric ulcer and other symptoms.

Therefore, you should develop a habit of eating three meals at regular times and in regular amounts, and only eat until you are 70% to 80% full at each meal. This will help to regularize the gastric motor pacemaker cells and gastric acid secretion, making the gastric function more coordinated.

Emotional instability

In daily life, we often hear people say, "I'm so angry that I can't eat," "I'm so angry that my stomach hurts," etc. In fact, the stomach and emotions are closely related.

The stomach is called the "second brain of the human body" and is one of the organs most easily affected by emotions. Data show that 57% to 70% of patients with functional dyspepsia have abnormal emotions.

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Repressive emotions such as anxiety, depression, and fear often lead to low gastrointestinal motility, which can easily cause discomfort such as loss of appetite, belching, hiccups, early satiety, and bloating; while more excited emotions such as anger and irritation can lead to gastrointestinal hypermotility reactions, causing gastric acid secretion and increased gastrointestinal motility, inducing gastritis, gastric ulcers, gastroesophageal reflux, etc.

In daily life, we should learn to control our emotions. When we feel angry or mad, we should take deep breaths, listen to music, or go for a run to calm ourselves down. When we are in a bad mood, we should go shopping or travel with friends to relax.

stay up

According to a study conducted by a medical research institute in Los Angeles, the incidence of stomach problems among people who often stay up late and lack sleep is 3 to 4 times higher than that of the general population! The reason for this is that these people lack TFF protein in their stomachs.

TFF protein can form a mucus film on the gastric mucosa, which can, on the one hand, reduce the damage of hard substances to the gastric mucosa; on the other hand, it is weakly alkaline and can effectively prevent the corrosive effect of gastric acid on the gastric mucosa.

Experimental data show that the secretion of TFF protein during deep sleep at night is equivalent to 20 to 30 times the secretion during the day. If you stay up late for a long time, the secretion of TFF protein will decrease, the protection and repair ability of the stomach will be weakened, and stomach problems will naturally come. So it’s better to go to bed early~

Finally, I would like to remind everyone that it is best to have a gastroscopy every year, especially for those who have the habit of smoking and drinking, like to eat pickled and greasy food, or have stomach problems or a family history of stomach cancer.

Source: I am a great doctor official account

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