Many young people don't know how to cook, and even after getting married, they remain quite dependent on their parents for daily life. Some parents will cook meals for their children and store them in the refrigerator for them to eat whenever they want. Since the beginning of summer, gastroenterologists have noticed that many young people who have just started living independently often experience unexplained abdominal pain, which in some cases cannot be resolved with medication. This is mostly caused by "refrigerator gastroenteritis."
Over the past week, the number of outpatients in our gastroenterology department has increased by 60% compared to usual, with 40% of them being patients with "refrigerator gastroenteritis," and the vast majority of them are young people aged 25 to 35.
Young people are generally busy with work and have irregular lifestyles. They like to eat chilled fruits or cold drinks and are accustomed to using the refrigerator as a pantry to stockpile food for a period of time. However, this lifestyle is very detrimental to gastrointestinal health. In fact, leftover cooked food should not be stored for too long. Even in the refrigerator, it can breed bacteria and lose its nutritional value. For people with sensitive stomachs, it is even more likely to lead to intestinal diseases.
"Refrigerator gastroenteritis" is not inflammation in the general sense. The condition is caused by the sudden entry of cold food into the stomach. Food that is only a few degrees Celsius is too irritating compared to the stomach's internal environment of 36-37 degrees Celsius. This excessive cold stimulation causes rapid spasmodic contraction of the gastric mucosal capillaries, leading to severe ischemia of the gastric mucosa. This, in turn, significantly reduces gastric acid and pepsin, lowering the stomach's sterilization ability and immunity, and resulting in gastric dysfunction.
Therefore, even in the summer, you should not eat food that is too cold. Food taken from the refrigerator should be left at room temperature for a while or heated before eating to avoid irritating the stomach. Raw and cooked foods should be separately wrapped in plastic bags before being stored in the refrigerator to prevent cross-contamination. The refrigeration time for food should ideally not exceed two days. If you experience symptoms like stomach cramps after eating cold food, you can first apply a hot water bottle to your abdomen to relieve the symptoms before seeking medical attention.