Water with food??

[Chaddycakes]

I have been curious about if its beneficial to drink water with your meals to increase digestion, because i recently read a thread on abcbodybuilding.com that suggested an individual to drink 16 ounces of water with every meal.
So today being curious in my Human Anatomy class i asked my professor about the subject, and he suggested to not drink anything at all while your eating because what happens is water (or any other liquid) will actually dilute the acids in your body which will eventually lead to indegestion. So my question is...
Have any of you guys heard of this before? Any help or elaboration of this subject would be awesome.

 

[Swanson Smash]

never heard that before..i drink water with everything..food, shower, gym, work...water goes good with everything...

 

[Black03SVTCobra]

I drink one cup of water before every meal 12oz, and one while eating as well, it helps me feel full. Just what I do.

 

[alex2678]

As far as I know there haven't been any real life studies to prove that water consumption with food decreases the absorbtion of nutrients. Quite the contrary actually. Water is needed in the intestines to move food along and improve digestion. I think I even remember reading somewhere that water helps to increase hydrochloric acid production.

The only time I can see someone limiting water intake with food is if they have a poor appetite and are trying to increase calories to put on size. In this case the water would fill them up before they can finish their food. Other than that, staying "tight" for a photo shoot would be the only other reason I can see. Best to stay hydrated and drink as much water as you can throughout the day in my opinion.

 

[Chaddycakes]

Yes i totally agree with you that water is necessary for absortion in the intestines . All im saying is that your body is extremly acidic and if you dilute it to much it becomes much harder for your "stomach" to break down the food. So it just seems like it would be more healthy to wait a half our to drink water. Ill look into this some more and post it if i can find some more information on it.

 

[alex2678]

Interesting topic. Got me curious now. I guess it's still a debated topic. All I found was this:

"Drinking water with meals is a controversial subject. Some have suggested that it “dilutes the digestive juices.” Using large quantities of water to wash down food rather than taking the time to chew thoroughly is a practice to be avoided. However, studies have shown that a moderate intake of one to two glasses of water with a meal improves digestion by facilitating both the production of gastric secretions at the time you eat and also the secretion of bicarbonate into the small intestine that normally occurs one to two hours after a meal."

I usually don't drink anything more than a few sips of water during my meal anyways. (Aside from the water in veggies) But in between I'll drink as much as I can.