Can the stomach be really more propped up bigger, more hungry smaller?

At dinner, we often hear a somewhat restrained girl say, "Don't eat any more, or your stomach will be full!"

Yes, many people think that our stomach is like a bad balloon, which is always blowing up, getting looser and even in danger of bursting. And if you don't blow it all the time, the rubber will age and the stomach will gradually shrink.

Are our stomachs really as fragile as balloons? First we need to understand the structure of the stomach.

Eat for a long time full or can hunger change stomach capacity?

Our stomach is a muscular organ, which means it's a house of muscles, and multiple layers of muscles.

The innermost layer of the gastric wall is a variety of gastric gland cells, which can secrete gastric acid, proteinase and some gastrointestinal hormones. There is an intermuscular plexus between several layers of smooth muscle in the stomach wall, which periodically sends out electrical impulses to maintain the contraction of the stomach wall, causing the stomach to be in a state of mild contraction at normal times. The stomach is slightly tubular when completely empty, with a capacity of about 50mL, and balloonlike when highly filled, with a capacity of up to 2L.

The stomach is divided from top to bottom into pylorus, antrum, body, cardia and bottom of the stomach. But in fact, when we eat, even if we eat more food, most of it is only confined to the antrum and the lower part of the stomach, and the other parts are without food, which mainly plays the role of relieving pressure.

When we eat, can appear gastric receptive relaxation, is the volume of the stomach, to accommodate the food ready, gastric gland secretion to increase at the same time, emptying delay, creep, in order to let the food in the stomach and gastric juice mixture, forming food into chyme, partly digested protein, prepare for the next step in the intestinal absorption. Food containing carbohydrate stays in the stomach for a shorter time, while food containing protein and fat stays for a longer time, and mixed food general gastric empties for 4 hours ~5 hours. This also determines the spacing of our meals.

When food is emptied, the stomach reverts to its original form, and the muscular plexus in the stomach wall continuously releases basic electrical impulses, maintaining the stomach in a state of slight contraction.

Therefore, no matter it is often full or hungry, there is no problem of enlarging or shrinking the stomach capacity, because the shape of the stomach is different according to whether there is food and how much food there is. Our stomach has a very good telescopic capacity.

Being full or hungry often hurts the stomach

The capacity of the stomach is neither enlarged, nor starved to atrophy, even when full or hungry. But that doesn't mean we're free to eat as much as we want or as hungry as we want.

Rather than the shape of the stomach itself, we should pay more attention to the gastric mucosa. Long-term overeating or starvation has a definite effect on the gastric mucosa and gastric function.

Our gastric secretion of gastric acid and pepsin, a major stimulus is food, hungry for a long time, the stimulation of a lack of food, can cause gastric acid secretion is insufficient, affect the digestion of food, at the same time the mucous glands due to disuse atrophy may occur, pay attention to here is the contraction of the mucous glands, rather than the atrophy of the stomach itself.

At THE SAME time, long-term hunger, because of the lack of food stimulation, bile does not discharge gallbladder for a long time, causing water absorption increase, time is long easy to cause gallstones.

When you eat for a long time, it will obviously affect the emptying function of the stomach and cause abdominal distension. If this goes on for a long time, it will lead to chronic gastritis and cause the decline of digestive function.

In addition, if you eat too much at one time, there may be vomiting, acute stomach dilatation and even stomach perforation, and other problems. Imagine the scene after the balloon is blown to the limit, you know how terrible the consequences will be!

In short, our stomach will not change because of overeating or hunger, but we should also try to avoid long-term overeating or hunger, maintain regular meals, you are good for the stomach, stomach is good for you.