Good news for those who enjoy drinking water with ice but have heard that it’s best to drink water at room temperature due to the potential indigestion it might cause. Unless you suffer from an extremely unusual swallowing condition, you can go ahead and stock up on ice cubes once more.
According to Dr. Kaushik Govindaraju, an internal medicine specialist at Medical Offices of Manhattan in New York City, there is a major flaw in the belief that cold water slows down gastric motility or dilutes the digestive enzymes in the gut. This is because our bodies maintain a high level of thermoregulation. Therefore, a cold drink usually warms up before reaching your stomach because it does not stay cold for more than a few seconds after consumption due to the body’s heat.
But achalasia, an extremely rare disorder, is an exception. It causes regurgitation and trouble swallowing, which can make it painful to sip cold water. Achalasia can impact the esophagus (the tube that connects the mouth to the stomach) due to nerve dysfunction. As a result, food and liquids may pool in the throat and reflux back into the mouth because the esophageal muscles are unable to effectively transport them to the stomach. Read the article
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