Eating fruits before breakfast will help to lower the risk of heart-related diseases like stroke and high blood pressure, according to a consultant nutritionist, Dr Rosemary Akindele.
“Nutrients in fruits help to guard against some diseases and it lowers the risk of heart-related diseases such as stroke and high blood pressure.
“However, eating fruits carelessly without the knowledge of what it can do to the body may bring more problems.
“Fruits should be eaten alone on an empty stomach because when fruits are eaten, the digestive process works very quickly and the different enzymes digest the fruits,” Akindele, who works with St. Patrick Hospital, Lekki-Ajah, Lagos, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
According to her, fruits are rich in fibre, potassium and vitamins.
Eating fruits on empty stomach energises the body, promotes weight loss and makes the skin shine, she explained, stressing that when fruits are eaten alone, the stomach processes all the nutrients, fibre and the simple sugar in the fruits.
“This is the proper way to eat fruits for healthy living. Eating fruits after or close to a meal time especially right after a large meal and combining the fruits with other foods is not proper.
“The fruit will stay long in the stomach with other foods and will rot or ferment in the gut.
“This is the main reason why people are experiencing indigestion, heartburn, burping and other digestive discomforts.
“It can be as a result of combining the food with the fermentation of fruits that causes the stomach upset which may lead to other health problems.” (NAN)