As winter approaches, the climate becomes increasingly dry. In addition to using humidifiers and increasing water intake, many people choose to eat more fruits to supplement their fluids. Meanwhile, various tips on "healthy fruit consumption" are widely circulated, such as "don't eat fruit on an empty stomach in the morning."
However, from the perspective of food and nutrition experts, this view is not entirely accurate: whether one can eat fruit on an empty stomach depends on the individual and the type of fruit.
Professor Fan Zhihong, an associate professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety at the College of Food Science and Nutritional Engineering at China Agricultural University, explains that for people with excessive stomach acid, eating highly acidic fruits like oranges on an empty stomach can indeed be harmful. Fruits with high tannin content may also react with mucus proteins in the stomach when eaten on an empty stomach, leading to discomfort. However, this does not apply to other fruits. In fact, as fruits today are becoming sweeter and less acidic, this concern is gradually losing its basis.
As for the idea that the high sugar content in fruit can easily lead to acid production and hiccups when eaten on an empty stomach, Fan Zhihong directly states that this theory is untenable. She believes that sugar is not digested in the stomach at all, but in the small intestine. If one cannot eat fruit simply because of its high sugar content, then one shouldn't eat chocolate, cookies, or fruit candy before meals either, as they are even higher in sugar.