Gas Empty Stomach

Ask a cook: Search for hoax proves fruitful

Q: Is eating fruit on an empty stomach more healthful than eating it with or after a meal? I read a report that said fruit causes a reaction with other food that is damaging to the body. Is there a valid source on the Internet for learning about these things?

A: It isn't a site for nutrition information, but I checked out your question on another source: www.snopes.com. Snopes specializes in checking out Internet rumors and hoaxes. Whenever someone passes on a mass email, whether it's the latest "true crime" story or a nutty food claim, check Snopes before you share it or take it seriously.

Sure enough, I found your fruit report there. According to Snopes editor Barbara Mikkelson, the piece was originally written in 1998 and has been floating around the Internet since about 2001. The doctor mentioned in the report had a degree in naturopathy, not medicine, and was arrested multiple times for practicing medicine without a license. There is no scientific proof to back up his claim.

Other versions of the fruit story have been made by people selling weight-loss programs since the 1980s, but none of those has been proven, either. The nutritional value of a piece of fruit is the same whether it's eaten on an empty stomach, with food or after a meal.

In fact, someone who is diabetic can keep his blood sugar level from spiking by ingesting fruit as part of a meal. There also is a condition called fructose intolerance that can cause gas and cramping if fruit is eaten on an empty stomach. But neither of those changes the nutritional value of the fruit.

Kathleen Purvis answers food questions at www.charlotteobserver.com/food.

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Health-Tips: Cancer Treatment: EAT FRUIT on empty stomach

Eat your fruit on an empty stomach, or before your meal! You've heard people complain: Every time I eat watermelon I burp, when I eat durian my stomach bloats, when I eat a banana I feel like running to the toilet, etc. This will not happen if you eat the fruit on an empty stomach. Fruit mixes with the putrefying other food and produces gas. Hence, you bloat! Eating a whole fruit is etter than drinking the juice. If you should drink the juice, drink it mouthful by mouthful slowly, because you must let it mix with your saliva before swallowing it. You can go on a 3-day fruit-fast to cleanse your body. Eat fruit and drink fruit juice for just 3 days, and you will be surprised when your friends say how radiant you look! Women should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting. Be aware of intense pain in the jaw. You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack. Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms. Sixty percent of people who have a heart attack while they're asleep do not wake up. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Be careful, and be aware. The more we know, the better our chance to survive.

Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary

Lang's German-English dictionary of terms used in medicine and the allied sciences

Urology

The control of hunger in health and disease

Diseases of the stomach, their special pathology, diagnosis and treatment with sections on anatomy, physiology, analysis of stomach contents, dietetics, surgery of the stomach, etc. / John C. Hemmeter