Is it true that land and sea food should not be eaten together?

You may have heard the assumption that eating land and sea foods at the same time can be bad for health. This habit is said to cause stomach upset, indigestion, and food poisoning. So, is this true?

The origin of the prohibition on eating land food with seafood

Source: The Washington Post

The 'prohibition' of consuming land food together with seafood actually originated from religious and customary arrangements.

In certain religions, for example, fish and red meat are in two categories of food that should not be eaten together.

In some community groups, the prohibition to eat land food together with seafood has been formed as a hereditary rule.

On the other hand, there are people who believe that consuming both at the same time can cause health problems.

This is based on the difference in digestibility of land and seafood.

As an illustration, the stomach takes about 45 to 60 minutes to digest fish. Meanwhile, it takes 1.5 to 2 hours to digest chicken and 3 hours to digest beef.

Initially, this different digestion time was thought to have a big effect on digestion.

Based on the varied digestibility times, seafood such as fish should be digested first than chicken and beef.

Food that takes longer to digest will be stuck in the stomach and is thought to lower the pH of stomach acid.

Not only that, the stomach also has to produce more enzymes to break down meat that takes longer to digest. As a result, the condition in the stomach becomes unbalanced.

This makes people who eat both land and sea foods at the same time are considered to be more at risk of experiencing indigestion. For example, stomach pain, heartburn, bloating, to increase stomach acid.

Is this proven true?

In fact, the digestive system doesn't work that way.

This is because the human body has evolved to digest whole foods that contain carbohydrates, proteins, fats and other nutrients at once.

When you eat several types of food at the same time, the stomach will produce various enzymes to digest all the nutrients in it.

Digestive enzymes can work effectively if the stomach pH remains acidic, which is 1 to 2.5.

The simultaneous entry of land and sea foods may temporarily change the stomach pH by up to 5.

However, the stomach wall is able to produce stomach acid and lower its pH value again quickly.

As long as the pH value remains acidic and all the enzymes are functioning properly, the stomach will always work optimally.

This organ can digest fish, chicken, and beef properly without being affected by different digestion times.

There is a time to separate land food from seafood

You may eat land food together with seafood.

However, there are times when you need to separate these two foods, namely when storing and processing them and if you are allergic to seafood.

When cooking and storing both ground food and seafood, always keep them in separate containers.

You can wrap it in plastic or keep it in a box with a lid.

When processing food, separate cooked food from raw materials.

The reason is, letting cooked food close to raw food can result in food poisoning.

For those of you who have allergies to seafood, always serve seafood in a different container from land food.

After eating, keep them both in separate containers and cover with a serving hood to prevent the food from getting dirty.

x