The effect of tea on iron absorption.
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The effect of tea on iron absorption was studied in human volunteers. Absorption from solutions of FeCl3 and FeSO4, bread, a meal of rice with potato and onion soup, and uncooked haemoglobin was inhibited whether ascorbic acid was present or not. No inhibition was noted if the haemoglobin was cooked. The effect on the absorption of non-haem iron was ascribed to the formation of insoluble iron tannate complexes. Drinking tannin-containing beverages such as tea with meals may contribute to the pathogenesis of iron deficiency if the diet consists largely of vegetable foodstuffs.
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Consumption of black tea and coffee has been shown to strongly inhibit Fe absorption from composite meals, with coffee having about half the inhibitory effect of tea.
“The consumption of black tea and coffee has been shown to strongly inhibit Fe absorption from composite meals (Disler et al. 1975;Hallberg & Rossander, 1982;Morck et al. 1983), with coffee having about half the inhibitory effect of tea.”
From Inhibition of non-haem iron absorption in man by polyphenolic-containing beverages (1999) · cites this paper as Disler et al. 1975
The Abstract and the section on non-haem food iron report that tea inhibited iron absorption from bread and a rice meal with potato and onion soup. The Discussion mentions only unpublished preliminary observations that coffee has a similar effect; it does not establish coffee’s effect on composite meals or say it is half as inhibitory as tea. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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- Bjorn-Rasmussen, E., and Hallberg, L, and Walker, R. B. (1972) on August 10, 2023 by guest. Protected by copyright. http://gut.bmj.com/ Gut: first published as 10.1136/gut.16.3.193 on 1 March 1975. Downloaded from Food iron absorption in man. I. Isotopic exchange between food iron and inorganic iron salt added to food; studies on maize, wheat and eggs. Amer. J. clin. Nutr., 25, 317-323.
- Conrad, M. E. (1970). Factors affecting iron absorption. In Iron Deficiency. Pathogenesis: Clinical Aspects: Therapy, edited by L. Hallberg, H. G. Harworth, and A. Vannotti, pp. 87-120. Academic Press, New York and London.
- Haslem, E. (1966). Chemistry of Vegetable Tannins, pp. 7-9. Academic Press, New York and London.
- International Commission on Radiological Protection (1960). Report of Committee II on Permissible Dose of Internal Radiation, 1959 (I.C.R.P. Publication No. 2), pp. 85-89. Pergamon Press, Oxford, for I.
- Miles, L. E. M., Lipschitz, D. A., Bieber, C. P., and Cook, J. D. (1974). Measurement of serum ferritin by a 2-site immuno-radiometric assay. Analyt. Biochem., in press.
- Weintraub, L. R., Weinstein, M. B., Huser, H. J., and Rafal, S. (1968). Absorption of hemoglobin iron: the role of a heme-splitting substance in the intestinal mucosa. J. clin. Invest., 47, 531-539. on August 10, 2023 by guest. Protected by copyright. http://gut.bmj.com/ Gut: first published as 10.1136/gut.16.3.193 on 1 March 1975. Downloaded from
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Inhibition of non-haem iron absorption in man by polyphenolic-containing beverages
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- Authors
- Disler, P. B., Lynch, S. R., Charlton, R. W., Torrance, J. D., Bothwell, T. H., Walker, R. B., & Mayet, F.
- Affiliations
- South African Medical Research Council (ZA)
- Venue
- Gut
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Published
- 1975-03
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 193-200
- ISSN
- 0017-5749 (ISSN-L)
- 1468-3288
- PMC
- PMC1410962
- OpenAlex
- W2144246467
- Cited by
- 441
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 11 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 3.47
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Gut (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Hematology › Iron Metabolism and Disorders
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pathology and Forensic Medicine › Tea Polyphenols and Effects
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Plant Science › Phytase and its Applications
- Keywords
- tea, iron absorption, tannins, non-heme iron, hemoglobin, vitamin C, iron deficiency, dietary iron, iron absorption inhibition
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Animals, Ascorbic Acid, Bread, Chlorides, Cooking, Female, Heme, Hemoglobins, Humans, Intestinal Absorption, Iron, Iron Radioisotopes, Meat, Middle Aged, Milk, Oryza, Sheep, Solubility, Sulfates, Tannins, Tea, Vegetables
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