‘Chew your food’ is probably an often repeated statement by mothers the world over. Science shows that this age-old wisdom has a lot of merits- from regulating digestion to preventing bloating, gas, and even overeating, chewing has lots of benefits for us. There is reason to believe that chewing adequately helps not just digest food more quickly, in other words when we eat more mindfully, we feel less hungry.
The Importance of Chewing
Chewing is the process of using teeth to break food down into manageable, digestible pieces. Human beings, over years of evolution, have developed teeth that aid in cutting, chewing, and grinding food. This helps food move easily through the esophagus (food pipe). Saliva also contains enzymes that begin the breakdown process of carbohydrates. Try out this simple exercise with some plain rice and chew it at least 25 times. After a while, you will notice a sweet taste in your mouth. This is because the enzymes in saliva help break down the rice into simple sugars. In other words, digestion begins well before food reaches the stomach. It begins in the mouth.
While there is no fixed rule, at a bare minimum, we must chew each portion in our mouth at least twenty times. Some sources say that thirty-two times is ideal per morsel. Saliva contains amylase and lingual lipase, enzymes that break down carbohydrates and fats respectively. Ayurveda says that chewing food adequately sends signals to the brain about the nutritional profile of the food being eaten. The brain can process these signals and release digestive juices in the right proportion. As per the data available, most of us probably chew no more than fifteen times. Hence, it is a good idea to be mindful and chew a bit more than you usually do.
Chewing Issues as One Ages
As we age, several factors can contribute to a weak bite. Some of them are:
- Tooth decay
- Missing or falling teeth
- Loss of strength in jaws
- Ill-fitting denture
- Parkinson’s disease which makes muscle coordination difficult.
As early as a decade ago, some seniors would opt for dentures to replace teeth that were decaying, but otherwise healthy and in their place. However, artificial dentures are often not the best result, they make a hard bite difficult. Over time, due to mechanical damage, you may have to resort to softer foods which your natural teeth could have helped chew. Hence, never opt for artificial dentures except as a last resort.
Sometimes, painful as it may be, the best solution to deal with tooth decay is a root canal procedure. A dentist is the best person to evaluate whether you need replacement dentures or if a simple root canal will suffice. A dental X-ray may be ordered to use as a baseline for these procedures.
Digestion
After the chewing process which happens in the mouth, the food reaches the stomach, and the upper part of it relaxes to receive large amounts of food while the lower portion stores the food and mixes it with necessary digestive juices, which are stomach acids and some enzymes that digest protein. The contents are then emptied into the small intestine where more juices from the pancreas, liver, and intestine are mixed with the food for digestion. Bile produced by the liver is essential to break down or dissolve fat to enable the digestion of fat molecules. Some more juices from the small intestine are combined with this semi-digested material to complete the digestion process. Glucose, the primary energy molecule obtained from the food, is absorbed into the blood which carries it to various parts of the body. The undigested component of food is pushed into the large intestine which absorbs any remaining water and converts it into stool which is stored in the rectum until excreted.
Some Reasons to Start Chewing Your Food
- Broken-down food releases more nutrients into the body.
- Since chewing well takes time, do not eat in a hurry and instead eat only until you are full.
- The longer, we chew, the more time saliva has to break down complex carbohydrates.
- The best workout for your gums, teeth, and facial muscles in general is chewing.
- Chewing reduces the involvement of gut flora in digestion, which in turn leads to less gas production
- What Happens When We Do Not Chew Properly
- We do not enjoy food as we are not eating mindfully.
- Not chewing well and swallowing quickly leads to GERD, a condition in which stomach contents rise back up into the esophagus and injure the delicate lining.
- Improperly chewed food causes improper digestion, bloating, and gas.
- Lysozyme in saliva helps destroy common pathogens. For it to act, adequate time is necessary, which chewing well provides.
- When enough saliva does not move around the mouth, food particles get stuck in teeth and cause decay. Chewing causes more saliva to be released.
How to Improve Your Chewing
- Measure the amount of time it takes you to finish.
- In the next meal, aim to increase the amount of eating time by two minutes. In each meal, increase the time by two minutes.
- Make a promise not to watch TV or look at a screen while eating. This helps focus on the meal and chew properly.
- If you consume carbohydrates like rice and chappati, chew until you notice a characteristic sweet taste in your mouth.
- Go in for regular dental check-ups to look for tooth decay and prevent problems before they arise.
- If you use dentures, be sure to clean them properly and ask for a replacement as soon as they are worn out, this you can judge by your ability to enjoy foods even in their harder form.
Waiting for your feedback on this blog.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
26th February 2024