Dear Chuck: I've heard that you're only supposed to eat fruit on an empty stomach because of how fast it digests, but I have a habit of eating other food first. Is there a right or wrong way to eat fruit? What about drinking fruit juice or eating canned fruit? RK</p><p>Dear RK: Eating fruits on an empty stomach allows them to be quickly absorbed and go though the digestive process quickly. If fruit is mixed with other things it slows down the process. So, the answer is yes and no. Since Adam and Eve ate the "forbidden fruit" man has eaten fruit and other foods mixed without regard to what order is correct. Foods are for our nourishment and our enjoyment. Eating should not be so complicated.</p><p>The notion of consuming fruit only on an empty stomach became very popular in the 1980s when a husband and wife team published a book on health and nutrition to promote long life (the title of which will be left unnamed to prevent anyone from accidentally being led astray). Since then numerous other books and articles have been promoting the same or similar message. Unfortunately diet fads and trends often follow the same path as reality TV shows or popular music artist want-to-be. If it sells then everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon.</p><p>Twenty-some years ago nutrition and health promotion became almost a religion to believe in instead of science. Eating fruit with other foods was believed to cause the food to rot and ferment and turn to acid because the fruit was delayed in the stomach and prevented from immediately entering the intestines.</p><p>Promoters of fruit first claim that eating fruit with other foods causes unpleasant stomach or intestinal problems like gas, burping or diarrhea because the foods putrefy. They also report that graying hair, balding, nervous outburst, dark circles under the eyes, fatigue and lethargy will not happen if you take fruits on an empty stomach. A pretty broad and remarkable fountain of youth claim but entirely false.</p><p>The authors of the unnamed book also advocated "food combining," which is the belief that particular foods need to be eaten with other particular foods (and only those foods), while some certain other foods must be consumed unaccompanied by anything else. Again, do we need such rules and regulations when it comes to food?</p><p>In reality, eating fruit first before eating a meal can help curb appetite and allow one to eat less food and lose weight. However, eating things like nuts or yogurt with fruit has other benefits like preventing spikes in blood sugars for those that have problems with diabetes or hypoglycemia. The combination allows for longer satiety (suppresses appetite over a longer period of time).</p><p>Heating or cooking fruit does destabilize some vitamins (like vitamin C) but no minerals are lost in the process at all. The process of canning fruit leaches some of the minerals out and into the juice or syrup. If you want the minerals you would have to drink the liquid from the can which may contain extra added sugar. Fruit juice is okay in small amounts but it is best to get the extra healthy fiber that is found in the pulp and peel of whole fruit.</p><p>We should be getting at least 3 to 4 serving of fruit every day. Athletes and others that need to get in lots of calories in their day may benefit from having fruit 15 - 20 minutes before eating other foods so there is plenty of room to eat larger portions at a time. So you see the answer is more complicated than the act of eating fruit. Eat and enjoy.</p><p><i>Chuck Newcomb, MS, RD, CDE is a consulting Registered Dietitian currently providing medical nutrition therapy services for Memorial Hospital Los Banos. He has a Masters of Science in Clinical Nutrition from New York University. E-mail questions to the Attention of ChuckRD at: MHALosBanos@SutterHealth.org.</i>