In the wilds of the Internet, there remains a myth that when certain foods are eaten in the wrong combination, they have the ability to cause everything from mild health complications (gas, bloating) to full-blown disease.
According to U.S. News and World Report, some people believe:
Pretty disgusting, right?
Now that we’re all thinking long and hard about #gutrot and what we had for lunch, breath a sigh of relief: none if it is even remotely true.
Photo: Etsy
U.S. News uses science (imagine that) to break down just why #gutrot isn’t a thing at all, and your stomach is more than happy to combine all kinds of foods in a multitasking fashion. Here are the main points to know, in case you ever encounter a #gutrot believer in the flesh:
1. Food doesn’t rot in your stomach: “There is only one circumstance under which you’d need to worry about food rotting in your stomach, and that is if you were to die mid-meal.”
2. Combining foods doesn’t impact your stomach’s pH balance: In case anyone really cared about this (like a hardcore #gutrot proponent), “no combination of foods we eat will override the independent mechanisms [of our bodies].” Your body is more powerful than that Burger King you had for dinner, thank goodness.
3. Gas actually isn’t a sign of poor digestion: “Intestinal gas is produced as a natural byproduct of bacterial fermentation of fiber and unabsorbed sugars…[and] lots of gas is not necessarily a sign of a problem.”
4. Your food is already in the small intestine by the time it would turn into #gutrot: “Fermentation refers to the bacterial decomposition of carbohydrates, which is a more accurate term to describe your gut’s goings-on. So anytime you encounter the term ‘putrefy’…file it away under ‘scare tactic.'”