A long-standing myth linking the drinking of iced water or very hot liquids to heart problems has been debunked by senior health practitioners, Drs. Aba Folson and Kwekuma Yalley, on the latest episode of Vodafone Healthline.
Speaking on the third episode of Vodafone Healthline’s season nine, the experts explained that the circulatory system which is made up of the heart, blood and blood vessels work differently from the digestive system, which is responsible for the processing of food, consequently, actions such as chewing iced cubes cannot affect the heart directly.
Senior Physician and Cardiologist Dr. Folson explained that food enters the body through the mouth, passes through the esophagus into the stomach, having no contact with the heart apart from the fact that the heart and esophagus share a common space which is the chest region.
“Again, the body itself is warm inside, so when you take in a very cold substance by the time the water gets to the stomach, it becomes warm to the same temperature level as that of the body, it doesn’t stay cold for long,” she said.
General Practitioner, Dr. Yalley, taking his turn added that the body auto-regulates – bringing substances of extreme temperature, hot or cold, to the ideal body temperature.
“As the body takes in whatever you feed it, it tries to normalise it to the body temperature level, so to say that iced substances give heart problems is an emphatic ‘no’,” he added.
Dr. Folson further listed some documented causes of heart problems such as hypertension, diabetics, high cholesterol levels, improper diet, inadequate sleep, alcohol intake, smoking and lack of exercise among others, which have no correlation with drinking iced water.
The experts emphasised on stress as a major cause of heart problems in our part of the world as it triggers blood pressure to go up.
They subsequently discredited the claim that drinking hot liquids kills the coronavirus as was speculated at the advent of the pandemic, when information on the nature of the virus was sparse, noting that the virus does not stay on the surface of the skin for an extended period as such, it cannot be killed by ingesting hot substances.
Also, the story of a nine-year-old boy, Kweku Simon Awuni, who was knocked down by a car on his way from school at Nkawkaw, leading to the amputation of both his lower limbs was shared. After several efforts to get assistance in obtaining prosthetic legs for the boy proved futile, Vodafone Healthline came to the aid of the Awuni family by absorbing the cost of the treatment.
The episode included a spotlight on the mandate of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) beyond the popular catchphrase ‘this advertisement has been approved by the FDA.’ The role of the Authority in expediting and regulating COVID-19 related solutions was also discussed.
