The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1906-07-05
DRINK WHEN YOU EAT
TAKE AS MUCH WATER AS YOU
WANT WITH YOUR MEALS.
1t Is ExceEent For the Digestion, 1t
Is Claimed, as Neither Gastric Juice
Nor PeDsin Work Properly Unless
Largely Diluted With Water.

Is Claimed, as Neither Gastric Juice
Nor PeDsin Work Properly Unless
Largely Diluted With Water.
How much water should we drink
and when should we drink it are ques-
tons so simple that at first sight their
discussion seems superfuous. One
would naturally answer, "Drink all the
water you wish when you are thirsty"
but authorities say, ''Drink more than
you wish when you are not thirsty"
for they recommend that a gallon or so
be drunk between meals, which is
more water than we need and the very
time the system least demands it. U.s.
ually we experience thirst during or
directly after eating.
Inasmuch as 81 per cent of the whole
body is water, which is, Of course, be-
ing used up every moment, there is no
question that we should drink of this
element copiously, but it is a serious
question whether we should refrain
from water at meals-the time we par
ticularly desire it.
There is class of persons, ever
growing more numerous, that believes
that whatever is is wrong. For the
natural and simple they would substi-
tute the artificial and complicated. To
drink water while or directly after eat
ing is natural instinct. Give a dog
his dinner, putting a bowl Of water
near it, and observe that he will first
eat all he can and then Immediately
drink. Wild animals look for stream
after feeding. Cage birds will stop
pecking at seed to peck at water. Chill
dren have a perpetual thirst, and I
have seen babies that, unlike young
Oliver, have refused to eat more when
denied water after every few mouth
fuls.
It is especially important that babies
be given what water they wish and at
the time they wish it, which is usually
at table.
The thinner food is the more easily
and thoroughly is it digested; in fact,
it cannot be digested until it has been
made liquid by the gastric and intesti-
nal juices. Indigestion is caused often
by food that has not been sufficiently
moistened by the digestive secretions.
There are sound physiological rea-
sons for our craving water with meals.
Water is the solvent that constitutes
% per cent of the gastric juice Now,
when one eats hearty meal and does
not drink, the amount of water in the
stomach is not sufficient thoroughly to
moisten the great quantity Of food,
and this makes digestion difficult. On
the other hand, when enough water is
| lngested with the food the latter is
we'll moistened and broken up, the di-
gestible particles being then readily
acted on by the gastric juice and after
| ward absorbed. Again, when the par
TALLY digested food (chyme) passes into
the intestines it is most important that
it be very moist, particularly as water
is constantly absorbed from the chyle
in the large intestine. Bad cases of
constipation are caused by dry chyle
remaining in the intestines, where it
sets up an inflammation that some
times proves fatal, dry faces, of
course, resisting peristaltic action. The
excrement Of persons suffering from
constipation is always dry and hard
and is a potent cause Of appendicitis.
The idea that water drinking at
meals unduly dilutes the gastric juice
Is nonsensical, water being not so pal
atable that one is apt to drink more
than bis digestive functions require.
AS a matter of fact water generally
facilitates the digestion Of albuminous
substances. In this connection DIR. A.
jacob in his work on ''Infant Diet"
page 81, says: