Vegetarian Iron Absorption Concern....how often can I drink tea?

Question

I absolutely love green tea, and before I became a vegetarian (I still eat eggs and dairy products), I drank a lot of it, about 6 cups a day. Now that I am a vegetarian, I am concerned about the absorption of iron from my meals being disrupted by the tannins in the tea since the tannins tend to bind with the non-haem irons. So my question is, how often can I drink tea and how long should I wait before and after meals to drink tea?

Answer 1

Just don't drink tea at the same time you eat something with iron.Also don't drink milk when you have something with iron,iron competes with calcium for absorption.When you eat somethingwith iron,drink or eat something with vitamin c,it increases absorption.Tannic acid (e.g. in tea) can reduce non-haem iron absorption by as much as half; calcium can also inhibit iron absorption considerably. In addition, phytates (found in whole grains and legumes) also reduce iron absorption.

Iron is widely distributed in foods. Of the plant foods, good sources include legumes, whole grains (including wholemeal bread), wheat germ, oatmeal, green leafy vegetables, peas, broccoli, potatoes, nuts, seeds, peaches and dried fruit. (Refer to our Nutrient Summary for Vegetarians & Vegans for a list of iron sources.) The use of iron cooking utensils and saucepans also contributes to dietary intake.

Answer 2

Cooking in forged iron will help. The college of Iowa did a learn a number of years in the past and document that nutrition cooked in forged iron absorbs iron from the dish. The extra acidic the nutrition, the extra usable iron is going into it. It may be the uncoated forged iron, not the tooth coated stuff.

Answer 3

4 times a day spread over a period of 4 hours interval.