Does coffee affect iron absorption?

When you feel tired, do you use a customized coffee cup for aeropress coffee, or use electric coffee grinder, manual coffee grinder and antique coffee grinder to make a cup of freshly ground coffee? However, some people are energetic when drinking coffee, while others are getting tired as they drink. In fact, this has a lot to do with the time you drink coffee, the food you eat while drinking coffee, and even everyone's physique. Some people say that drinking coffee will affect iron absorption. Is this true?

Research: The more coffee you drink, the more iron deficiency your body becomes

Coffee is a good drink. Black coffee can help eliminate fat, increase heart and lung function, reduce the risk of diabetes, and even help defecation. Drinking a cup a day can have many benefits. But the reason why coffee has so many benefits is the "polyphenols" in coffee. In addition to the benefits, polyphenols also lock in non-heme iron (iron from plant sources) and directly allow iron Metabolized, so drinking coffee while eating is equivalent to the direct loss of iron that needs to be supplemented every day.

Because coffee mainly interferes with the absorption of iron, if there are no people who are iron-deficient, they will not lose iron even if they drink coffee, but if there are people who are iron-deficient or who often lack iron intake Over time, the iron deficiency condition will become more serious.

In 2018, South Korea’s National Health and Nutrition Examination data included 27,071 subjects. The results found that people who have the habit of drinking coffee every day, regardless of men and women, the more they drink, the lower the prevalence of hypertension and diabetes, but the blood The iron concentration is also relatively low. But what is more special is that the iron content of men is much higher than that of women, so the effect of drinking coffee is relatively small. The normal value of ferritin is 10~200ng/mL, and it is recommended to maintain it between 20~100ng/mL.

Notes for drinking coffee

The research team mentioned that there have been reports in the past showing that drinking coffee 1 hour after a meal reduces the absorption of iron by an average of 39%. The polyphenols in coffee mainly make non-heme iron less easily absorbed, while heme iron There is no effect, so if you want to drink coffee, it is best to follow the following methods:

1. Avoid meal time, it is best to drink coffee before or 2 hours after meal.

2. When drinking coffee, do not eat iron-rich vegetables, such as spinach, amaranth, and edamame.

According to data, common symptoms of iron deficiency patients include weakness, shortness of breath, heart palpitations, pale complexion, and poor physical strength. To maintain sufficient iron in the body, the most common way is to consume food, so how to maintain sufficient iron when eating is very important.

If you really want to drink coffee to refresh yourself, you can drink a cup of coffee between breakfast and lunch. You can prepare a warm coffee cup, insulated coffee tumbler or insulated glass coffee cups to keep the coffee warm and ensure you drink hot coffee.