Not just for weight gain concerns, but many people don’t prefer drinking water because indigestion issues like bloating. There is no need to separate beverages from solid foods, rather, sip in moderation, says Ishi Khosla, nutritionist.

Weight loss: Don’t drink water with your meals or immediately after them, it may cause weight gain. Have you heard statements way too often? Well, the weight loss industry has resulted in circulation of several such myths that are anything but true. The need of the hour is to look at food as something that can nourish you, help you be strong, healthy and fit. In this article, we are going to talk about drinking beverages with meals, and if it is a healthy thing to do.

Can drinking water with meals cause weight gain?

Nutritionist Ishi Khosla elaborates on this topic in one of her recent Insta posts. “Are you unsure as to whether it’s fine to drink beverages with meals?” she asks.

Also read: Fitness Trainer Explains How Drinking Sufficient Water Can Influence Your Fat Loss Program

Not just for weight gain concerns, but many people don’t prefer drinking water because indigestion issues like bloating. “The truth is that there is no need to separate beverages from solid foods, rather, sip in moderation,” writes Khosla in the caption of her post.

She goes on to add that drinking copious amounts of water or cold drinks or aerated drinks along with meals. It can suppress gastric secretion and also affect your digestion negatively.

Nutritionist Mugdha Pradhan, who deals with functional nutrition at ThriveFNC, says that there is no harm in drinking liquids with meals, but it is definitely dependent on the kind of liquid that you’re opting for. 

Also read: Lemon Water: 4 Refreshing Health Benefits It Provides If It Suits Your Body

“You can have liquids with your meals but what you have is more important. Nothing beats pure water. Mint infused lime water and ginger water also make for healthy drinks you can have with your meals. Lime water aids digestion and is good if you have it with your meals.”

Khosla agrees. A glass of water at room temperature, or some green tea or soup is completely fine with meals. “Adding the juice of lemon can enhance iron and calcium uptake from food, and also gives you Vitamin C,” she informs.

Thus, drinking beverages with meals is completely fine and healthy, and won’t necessarily cause weight gain!

Also read: Post-Workout Drinks: Reasons Why You Should Drink Watermelon Juice After Working Out

Disclaimer: This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your own doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.

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Studies suggest that chronic dehydration can accelerate the aging process, including signs of aging on the skin. If you struggle with dry skin, wrinkles, loss of facial volume and other symptoms associated with skin aging, rehydrating your skin is the first step to getting a healthy, youthful-looking complexion.

THE LINK BETWEEN DRY SKIN AND AGING

We know that dry skin accentuates signs of skin aging like lines and wrinkles, as less water retention contributes to less facial volume. Thus, lines, wrinkles and skin laxity are more noticeable on dry, dehydrated skin.

Additionally, dry skin is often also an indication of dehydration throughout the body, which can contribute to accelerated aging of all of the body’s organs, including its largest — the skin.

While there is a genetic component to dry skin, there are ways you can improve your skin’s hydration and overall health, despite your genetic skin type:

 Drink plenty of water. Hydrating the skin starts from the inside out. It’s also important to make sure your body is getting enough water to perform daily functions properly and keep your skin looking healthy and glowing.

 Avoid excessive alcohol consumption. Alcohol dehydrates your body, including your skin. This is why most people wake up the day after drinking with a dull, lackluster complexion. If you are going to indulge in a drink or two, be sure to drink water in between.

Use a barrier repair moisturizer. Barrier repair moisturizers like Zerafite Barrier Repair Moisturizer and Medature PSL Repair Moisturizer and EpiCeram (requires a prescription) help the skin to replenish and repair its natural skin barrier so that it is able to retain water, rather than allowing it to evaporate off the skin.

A good barrier repair moisturizer should contain a 1:1:1 ratio of ceramides, fatty acids, and cholesterol to mimic the skin’s natural barrier components. Look on the label for “MLE technology” or “PSL technology” to know that the moisturizer has the proper lipid ratio.

BOTTOM LINE ON HYDRATING YOUR SKIN

Dry skin is a sign of dehydration throughout the body and is one of the four barriers to skin health. While some people are genetically predisposed to having dry skin, the right skincare routine — including a good barrier repair moisturizer — and lifestyle habits like drinking enough water and avoiding excess alcohol and caffeine can help to reverse dry skin and help you maintain a healthy, youthful-looking complexion.

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There is no denying that green tea is extremely good for you, but too much of it can do more harm than good.

Green tea is considered one of the healthiest drinks and its medicinal properties have been acknowledged for centuries throughout the world. As it is made from unoxidized tea leaves and is less processed, green tea contains the most antioxidants of any tea. It has anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic effects, thanks to the natural chemicals called polyphenols present in green tea. Plus, it contains a host of micronutrients such as zinc, manganese, and vitamins A, B, and C. Also Read – 5 benefits of drinking cucumber mint tea

There is no denying that green tea is extremely good for you, but too much of it can do more harm than good. Health experts suggest limiting the consumption of green tea to just a couple of cups per day. If you’re a heavy green tea drinker, stick to no more than 5 cups per day. Here are some warning signs that indicate you are having more green tea than needed. Also Read – Start your day with jeera water to improve your health and keep diseases at bay

Heart Palpitations And High Blood Pressure

Though green tea contains less caffeine than coffee, it is enough to produce an effect if you’re consuming several cups per day. Too much caffeine can cause heart palpitations and even elevated blood pressure. This can be dangerous for people with a heart condition. Also Read – Get rid of belly bloat with these 5 refreshing drinks

So, limit green tea consumption if you have hypertension, cardiovascular disease or any other medical condition to prevent potential complications.

Increased Stress And Anxiety

A cup of green tea may help you unwind after a stressful day, thanks to its soothing properties. However, drinking several cups of green tea per day may leave you even more stressed. This is because too much caffeine in your bloodstream can trigger your adrenal glands to produce more of the stress hormones norepinephrine, adrenaline, and cortisol.

Iron-Deficiency Anemia

Green tea when consumed in large quantities can interfere with iron absorption from foods and can lead to iron-deficiency anemia, a blood condition characterized by having insufficient red blood cells or RBCs.

This is the reason why health experts strongly discourage the intake of green tea right after having a meal. If you have iron-deficiency anemia, you may experience fatigue, dizziness, pale skin, cold hands and feet, chest pain, shortness of breath, and a rapid heart rate.

Upset Stomach And Diarrhea

Green tea also contains tannins, which are plant-based compounds possessing astringent properties and are capable of shrinking some of the tissues in your body. Too much of these compounds in the body can cause mouth dryness, nausea, and an upset stomach.

Plus, the laxative properties of caffeine can leave you with diarrhea if you’re drinking several cups of green tea per day. A prolonged bout of diarrhea or vomiting can then result is dehydration. Severe dehydration can affect your kidney function.

Sleep Problem

Excess caffeine from green tea can make it more difficult to fall asleep. Drinking green tea before bedtime may also make you want to pee at night, which can interrupt your sleep, and leave you feeling tired in the morning. They can affect your performance at work and impair your ability to perform daily activities.

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Long-term consumption of lingonberry juice lowers high blood pressure and improves the functions of blood vessels, reveals an experimental study.

At some point in their lives, many people develop elevated blood pressure, even hypertension and functional disturbances in blood vessels related to low-grade inflammation. In addition to drug therapies, nutrition has a key role in the management of these disorders. Studies have shown that polyphenol-rich food reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Lingonberry, bilberry, cranberry and blackcurrant are excellent sources of polyphenols. “Lingonberry juice is no substitute for medication, but it is a good dietary supplement,” said researcher Anne Kivimaki from University of Helsinki in Finland. Both lingonberry and cranberry are part of the Vaccinium family of plants, just like bilberries blueberries and huckleberries.

In her doctoral thesis, Kivimaki investigated the cardiovascular effects of cold-pressed lingonberry juice, cranberry juice and blackcurrant juice as drinking fluid for 8-10 weeks on genetically hypertensive rats (SHR).

Diluted lingonberry juice significantly lowered high blood pressure while juice that contained more polyphenols improved impaired blood vessel function to the level of healthy vessels, the results showed.

The juice did not prevent the age-related elevation of blood pressure typical to the hypertensive animal strain.

Lingonberry juice prevented the expression of genes associated with low-grade inflammation in the aorta. The effect of other berry juices was less marked, showed the findings.

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Young men who reported smoking at least 21 cigarettes per day or drinking heavily were up to 70% more likely to experience a fracture in middle-age when compared with nonsmokers or men who reported moderate alcohol consumption, according to findings published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.

In a prospective analysis of conscript data from Sweden, researchers also observed no association between handgrip strength measured at age 18 years and fracture risk during middle-age.

“Although previous publications have consistently reported a relationship between low handgrip strength and fractures in older men, no long-term follow-up data is available to our knowledge for young adults,” Daniel Prieto-Alhambra, MD, PhD, professor of pharmaco- and device epidemiology at Botnar Research Centre in Oxford, United Kingdom, and colleagues wrote in the study background. “In parallel, evidence suggests that smoking and alcohol use could contribute to an increased fracture risk through a lower bone mineral density for smokers and a higher risk for falls and traumas for heavy alcohol drinkers.”

Prieto-Alhambra and colleagues analyzed data from 40,112 young men undergoing a conscription examination in Sweden between September 1969 and May 1970 at age 18 years. Data on muscle strength, height, weight and lifestyle factors were linked to the National Patient Register 1987-2010. Handgrip strength was considered the main exposure and smoking and alcohol consumption as secondary exposures. Outcomes were all fractures, major osteoporotic fractures and major traumatic fractures. Researchers used Cox regression models to estimate HRs according to handgrip strength as a continuous variable (per 1 standard deviation [SD]), with adjustments for weight, height, parental education, smoking and alcohol consumption.

Smoking
Young men who reported smoking at least 21 cigarettes per day or drinking heavily were up to 70% more likely to experience a fracture in middle-age when compared with nonsmokers or men who reported moderate alcohol consumption.
Source: Shutterstock

Within the cohort, median alcohol consumption was 54 g per day, and 41% of men described themselves as nonsmokers.

Researchers found that 3,974 men experienced a fracture during middle-age, for an incidence rate of 44.5 per 1,000 person-years (95% CI, 43.2-45.9). Corresponding rates for major osteoporotic fractures and traumatic fractures were 12.2 and 5.6 per 1,000 person-years, respectively.

Researchers found no association between handgrip strength and any fracture risk.

In analyses of associations between lifestyle factors and fracture risks, researchers found that men who reported smoking at least six cigarettes per day were more likely to experience a fracture in middle-age vs. nonsmokers. The adjusted HR for smoking at least 21 cigarettes per day was 1.44 for all fractures (95% CI, 1.21-1.71).

Researchers observed a J-shaped associated between alcohol consumption and fracture risk. Compared with men who reported moderate alcohol consumption, defined as between 1 g and 100 g per week, the adjusted HR for fracture risk with no alcohol consumption was 1.23 (95% CI, 1.07-1.41), whereas the HR for consuming more than 400 g per week was 1.48 (95% CI, 1.2-1.83). The estimated population attributable fraction of fractures due to smoking and excess alcohol consumption was 11.8% (95% CI 7.9-15.5).

“About 12% of midlife fractures in men could be avoided if smoking and heavy alcohol consumption were eliminated,” the researchers wrote. – by Regina Schaffer

Disclosures: The authors report no relevant financial disclosures.

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(Reuters Health) – Behavior changes could potentially reduce a large part of the risk for developing gout, a U.S. study suggests.

Based on data from more than 14,000 people, researchers calculated how much factors like being overweight, following a diet that isn’t heart-healthy, drinking alcohol or taking water pills known as diuretics contribute to high levels of uric acid, known as hyperuricemia, which is a precursor to gout.

The findings “support the hypothesis that the majority of hyperuricemia and resulting gout cases could be prevented by modifying key risk factors in the U.S.,” said Dr. Hyon Choi, lead author of the study and a researcher at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

“Blood uric acid levels go up when people are obese, drink too much, eat certain things, or take diuretics, which leads to the increased risk of gout,” Choi said by email. “In contrast, blood uric acid levels go down if people lose weight or change their diet or drinking habits or stop taking diuretics, which would reduce the risk of developing gout.”

Gout is a form of inflammatory arthritis that can cause severe pain and joint tenderness. Previous research has linked several modifiable risk factors to gout including: a diet with too much meat and sweets; obesity; diuretics to treat high blood pressure; and alcohol consumption.

To see how much each of these factors might contribute to the development of gout, the study team analyzed data on a nationally-representative sample of 14,624 U.S. adults who completed a series of health surveys from 1988 to 1994.

People who were overweight were 85% more likely than those with a healthy body mass index (BMI) to have hyperuricemia, while obese people were 2.7 to 3.5 times more likely to have the condition, the researchers report in Arthritis & Rheumatology.

They calculated that 44% of the hyperuricemia cases were attributable to excess weight alone. They also concluded that 9% of hyperuricemia cases could be prevented by following a heart-healthy diet, 8% were attributable to alcohol use and 12% to diuretic use.

The study did not actually examine whether eliminating those risk factors prevented gout cases in a real population.

Still, the results may point patients with gout in the right direction to do what they can to ease their symptoms or reverse the condition, said Dr. Michal Melamed, a researcher at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center in Bronx, New York, who wasn’t involved in the study. There’s a lot people can do even if they’re obese or overweight and struggling to shed excess pounds.

“The take-home message is that the risk factors that they examined are modifiable – some of them are easier to modify than others, so individuals can decide what they think they are able to do,” Melamed said by email.

“Some can start with eating less red meat or drinking less alcohol,” Melamed said. “If patients are on a diuretic, they can discuss the risk of high uric acid levels with their physician and see if a different blood pressure medication may be better for them.”

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