Don’t mix your greens with your green tea

By 11. März 2016Blog, Health

Not literately of course, I think that goes without saying.  Today we bring you a publication from The American Journal of Pathology that warns against eating iron rich food such as spinach and drinking green tea at the same time.

The reason for the investigation is inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD).  An uncomfortable group of conditions that can cause inflammation of the bowel, leading to bloody diarrhoea and iron deficiency to name but two symptoms.

Green tea and iron supplements are both recommended for people with IBD as a polyphenol from green tea is known to have anti inflammatory properties and iron supplements are obviously against the iron deficiency.

The problem that the researchers highlight in their paper is that iron can interact with polyphenols dramatically reducing the beneficial effect of both of them. Therefore, it seems it is best to distance the taking of the iron supplement (or eating iron reach foods such as spinach or red meat) from consumption of green tea.

That is something that is relevant for all of us. If you want the full advantage of drinking green tea don’t have it with iron rich food or supplements and vice versa.

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