This story was first published on August 8th, 2006
Outline
Message claims that drinking cold water after a meal will solidify ‘oily stuff’ present in the food consumed and will lead to cancer. A second version recommends drinking warm water with meals and tacks on unrelated information about heart attacks.
Brief Analysis
The information in these messages is false. The claim that drinking cold water after a meal can cause cancer has no basis in fact. It is perfectly safe to drink cold water with or after your meals. And drinking warm water after a meal will not help you prevent cancer or heart attacks.
Examples
Subject: Heart Attacks and Hot Water
HEART ATTACKS & HOT WATER:
A very good article which takes two minutes to read. Heart Attacks And Drinking Warm WaterThis is a very good article. Not only about the warm water after your meal, but about Heart Attacks. The Chinese and Japanese drink hot tea with their meals, not cold water, maybe it is time we adopt their drinking habit while eating.
For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you. It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion. Once this ‘sludge’ reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.
Common Symptoms Of Heart Attack…
A serious note about heart attacks – You! Should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting . Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line.
You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack. Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms. 60% of people who have a heart attack while they are asleep do not wake up. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let’s be careful and be aware. The more we know, the better chance we could survive..
A cardiologist says if everyone who reads this post shares it to 10 people, you can be sure that we’ll save at least one life. Read this & Send to a friend. It could save a life… So, please be a true friend and share this article to all your friends you care about..
Subject: Drinking Cold water after meal = Cancer!
For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you. It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion.
Once this “sludge” reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine.
Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.
**PLEASE BE A “TRUE” FRIEND AND SEND THIS ARTICLE TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS YOU CARE ABOUT**
Detailed Analysis
According to this supposed medical warning, drinking cold water after a meal can cause cancer. The warning claims that cold water will solidify oily content in the food and this solidified content will line the intestines and ultimately lead to cancer.
However, there is no credible evidence to back up these claims. There is no mention of a connection between drinking cold water and cancer on the National Cancer Institute website or in other reputable cancer health resources. Nor have I discovered any news reports about such a connection. If the information in the message were true, it would be well documented by both the medical establishment and the media. It is a very common practice to consume cold water or other cold beverages at mealtime. Therefore any connections between cold water and cancer would have long since been extensively studied and reported.
As is common with such “warnings”, the message contains no external references to back up its far-fetched claims.
Besides, the conclusions in the message are logically flawed. The stomach’s natural heat will bring all contents to a uniform temperature soon after eating. Even ice-cold water would not stay cold long enough inside the stomach to actually “solidify the oily stuff”. Moreover, according to BBC Science and Nature:
As soon as food enters your stomach, your stomach lining releases enzymes that start breaking down proteins in the food. Your stomach lining also secretes hydrochloric acid, which creates the ideal conditions for the protein-digesting enzymes to work.
This chemical break down, along with rhythmic muscular contractions, turns all of the stomach’s contents into a thick semi-liquid mass called chyme and moves it into the duodenum, the first section of the small intestine. Thus, even if cold water did solidify oily substances in the stomach contents (highly improbable), the resulting “sludge” would soon be converted into chyme and it would not enter the duodenum more rapidly than any other material.
Some alternative health sources do claim that cold water can slow digestion, although such claims are not supported by modern medical science. However, even if this slowing did occur, it would certainly not fundamentally disrupt digestion in the way described in the message nor would it lead to cancer.
A newer variant of the message tacks on information about identifying heart attacks. It notes that chest pain and pain in the left arm are not always present during a heart attack and describes other symptoms that people should be aware of. This information is perfectly correct. However, it is in no way related to drinking cold or warm water with meals. The implication in the message is that drinking warm beverages with a meal can help prevent heart attacks, but as with the supposed cold water cancer link, this claim has no basis in fact whatsoever.
Thus, it is perfectly safe to drink cold water with or after your meals. It is also perfectly safe to drink warm beverages with or after your meal, although doing so will not prevent cancer nor will it help you avoid heart attacks. This nonsensical warning should not be forwarded, shared or reposted.
Original Source : https://www.hoax-slayer.net/cold-water-causes-cancer-warning-message/