Mr Oladimeji Okunola; a Clinical Nutritionist at the Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta, Ogun State, has warned against cold food consumption, as well as drinking cold water while eating.
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Here’s Why
According to him, “Once you cook and you allow the food to get cold, there is a change in the composition of the food, especially carbohydrate, temperature affects the flavour of the food. For instance, when frying plantain or popcorn, the aroma will be everywhere. However, once it gets cold nobody will notice the plantain or popcorn. That means temperature affects the flavour of food.
“Some carbohydrates, when hot, increase in quality and when they become cold, its quality diminishes lower. Eating cold food could be advantageous to those that are diabetic but for those who don’t have any medical condition, the consumption of cold food is not the best. When you allow your food to get cold, there is a likelihood of bacteria thriving on that food and when you consume it, it can lead to food poisoning.”
He also said that eating food with cold drinks would make the digestion process slower. “When you consume food with cold drinks, it will make the digestion process slower; compared to when you consume your food warm without a cold drink. The food might not get digested and this would cause a lot of discomfort in the stomach. It could lead to a high tendency of gaining weight or outrightly add more fat to the body.”
The clinical nutritionist also warned that drinking cold water before or after eating could have an effect on the teeth and lead to tooth decay.
Do you have healthy living goals for the year? Our goal should be to eat healthy. We should cultivate the habit of consuming our food while it is warm. We should also avoid taking cold drinks before or after meals.
