Chew Them Up!

Time invested in chewing today will reap greater benefits in a long run.

- Mangala R.

We have heard during our schooldays that food starts digesting in our mouths. But we are just too busy for a mundane job like mastication. So all our heartburns, indigestions and the various types of other lifestyle diseases are blamed on the food we eat. No rice, no wheat diets have become a common topic of discussion at our dining tables.

“A well-chewed hamburger is better than a badly chewed salad,” says Dr Harald Stossier from the Viva Mayr Clinic in Austria. Reading this I realised that chewing food is increasingly becoming extinct in my list of teeth functions! While I hastily gulp down food and think that the stomach can do all the digestion required my teeth are primarily used to polish and present to the world in my profile pics!

Truth is that we do not chew our food anymore. The act of chewing, along with all its benefits, helps our brain to register when the stomach is full so that we know when to stop eating. Instead, we race through a large meal only to realise we are full after overeating.

You must be aware that the mechanical and chemical process of digestion starts with chewing. But did you know that sufficient saliva from efficient chewing actually relaxes the lower stomach muscle called pylorus that facilitates the easy passage of food from the stomach to the small intestine? Furthermore, not well-chewed food is a fodder for bacteria causing flatulence and indigestion.

Facts state that the primary function of teeth is to break down food and mix it with saliva. Saliva is an essential enzyme to start digestion, protect the immunity in the mouth and start a signal chain to the rest of the digestive organs.