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If food is not chewed properly, larger particles enter the digestive tract causing digestive problems such as gas, bloating, constipation, food reactions, headaches and reduced energy levels. As you chew food, more digestive enzymes are produced. These help break down food further to aid digestion. The chewing process also triggers the production of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, which further aids digestion by regulating pH to increase acidity levels and assist with the breakdown of food. Chewing well increases the amylase secreted in the saliva of the mouth, an enzyme that begins to digest and increases satiety.

Chewing thoroughly increases the production of saliva that contains epithelial growth factor (EGF), a polypeptide that stimulates the growth and repair of epithelial tissue. Chewing food well increases the production of this EGF, nourishing the intestine. https://www.intestinal.com.au/chewing-food  .------ https://www.vinmec.com/en/news/health-news/nutrition/how-much-food-should-you-chew-before-swallowing/  .--- Saliva contains recycled nitrates from ingested foods (e.g., vegetables) through the enterosalival pathway. During meals, thorough chewing improves salivary flow and the reduction of salivary nitrate to nitrite by oral commensal bacteria.

Thorough chewing of food produces a nitrite-rich gastric environment and promotes cardiovascular health benefits by improving NO bioavailability through the enterosalivary nitrate-nitrite-NO pathway. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333973188_Chewing_Well_During_Meals_May_Benefit_Health_Via_the_Enterosalivary_Nitrate-Nitrite-Nitric_Oxide_Pathway  (2019).----- Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) leads to liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. NASH causes dysfunction. Nitrites in chewing attenuate the development of NASH with cardiovascular involvement. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8951310/  (2022).----

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