Some People Think Drinking Water During a Meal Is Bad — but Doctors Break Down the Truth

If not for the digestive system, everything we ate or drank, would come down straight into your poop. The digestive system, as the BBC describes, is an astonishing food factory where magic unfolds. As your teeth complete the mechanical act of chewing the food, the particles plummet through the tube, dropping into the stomach where a chemical reaction happens. Gastric juices break down the food particles, and then the team of acids churn everything with their waltz. Hundreds of bacterial particles work vigorously to extract and squeeze the nutrients from food, while the muscles happily contract and relax in the digestive rhythm.

The intricate ballet is sometimes punctuated by gas. All this magic is unsurprising given that the system has evolved over billions of years from creatures like jellyfish and flatworms, per Biology LibreTexts. However, sometimes this delicious dance of digestion turns into a somber ballad when stress takes its toll. Adding to this stress is a long-held notion that drinking water in between meals is bad for digestion and overall health. In a conversation with OnlyMyHealth.com, Doctor Shweta Jaiswal, senior dietician, took up this topic for discussion and deconstructed the notion down to the brass tacks.

"The notion that drinking water during meals is detrimental to digestion appears largely unfounded. Scientific research indicates that water consumption alongside meals does not significantly impact stomach acidity or hinder the digestive process," Doctor Jaiswal explained to the health website. When saying this, the doctor is referring to the commonly-held myth that drinking water during meals can dilute the digestive juices and interfere with the process of digestion. Michael Picco, a consultant for the Mayo Clinic, also echoed Dr. Jaiswal’s explanation, saying that drinking water during meals is not something to worry about. “Water and other liquids help break down food so that your body can absorb the nutrients. Water also softens stool, which helps prevent constipation,” Picco told the Mayo Clinic.

A 1982 study published in Clinical Nuclear Medicine also found that ingesting liquids simultaneously does not affect the rate at which solids clear from the stomach. An Atlanta-based dietician, Maria Moore, also told Southern Living that the stomach’s acidic environment is quite adaptable and drinking water in between the meals doesn’t impact it in any negative manner. "We're not aware of any findings that a reasonable amount of water would negatively impact digestion,” she said. Tamara Duker Freuman, a registered dietitian and author of The Bloated Belly Whisperer, told the Washington Post that the theory that you shouldn't drink water before or while eating is "totally false."

Nestle also debunked this water myth in its “Myth Busters” section, writing that, "A glass of water, when sipped slowly during a meal, can actually aid digestion rather than cause any bloating!" Ultimately, rather than abstaining from water during meals, it’s more important to listen to your body, Doctor Jaiswal suggested readers. She asked people to understand their bodies and act according to what feels like the most optimal habit. So, according to what most of these doctors say, the dances happening in your digestive system won’t mind a bit of water-sloshing, unless, of course, you don’t chug down a whirlpool.