We often hear that drinking any liquid after a meal is not healthy, and even harmful to health. But is it really so? Doctors say.

Is it harmful to drink tea immediately after eating - the answer will surprise you

Tea is considered one of the healthiest drinks in the world. However, there are many prejudices associated with it. One of them is that tea supposedly should not be consumed immediately after a meal. And also right before. Only at extremely long intervals. To dispel all doubts, we turned to nutrition experts.


Usually, as it happens: while waiting for lunch or dinner, tea, coffee, water, and other drinks are first brought to you. You sip on them in anticipation of the main course, what's wrong with that? They write that supposedly you can not drink tea before meals because it forms salivation. So, on the contrary, it’s good if you are going to eat right after, - says endocrinologist Alexei Kalinchev. - The only thing that you should not replace a full meal with tea. This kind of hunger strike will definitely lead to gastritis, ulcers, pancreatitis sooner or later.


As for taking tea after a meal , then all the articles on the Internet that urge you not to do this or do it after 1-3 hours are complete nonsense. Drink tea for health immediately after a meal - it does no harm. I especially recommend green tea, it is the most useful. And black can have an unnecessary tonic effect, like coffee.


And then, according to global standards, we are supposed to drink about 2 liters of liquid per day, and green tea is equated to them. So when will we fulfill this norm if we deprive ourselves of taking tea before and after meals?


Expert says: 

The main argument in favor of the statement about the dangers of tea after eating is that drinks can dilute gastric juice and interfere with the digestion process. However, there are no serious studies confirming this theory, - also notes nutritionist Marina Bessonova. - In general, changing the acidity of gastric juice is not at all easy, and this will require a sufficiently large volume of liquid.


Another question is that strong tea or coffee, due to the content of certain substances, can interfere with the absorption of important micro and macro elements from food. For example, tannins contained in strong black tea impair iron absorption.


Therefore, it is better to give preference to pure water, as well as herbal or green tea.