Top 10 taboo foods for dietary supplements

High tannic acid foods, high fat foods, high calcium foods, alcohol, high dietary fiber foods, grapefruit and grapefruit products, high sodium foods, caffeine-rich foods, soy products, and high oxalate foods.

This is really not an alarmist statement. I met a 26-year-old girl recently who had iron deficiency anemia and took iron supplements for 3 months. Her hemoglobin did not rise at all. When I asked her about her, I found out that she was working at the desk every day. She always had a cup of strong black tea on hand and drank medicine directly with tea. This was the pitfall of high tannic acid. Tannic acid and iron ions combine to form insoluble iron tannate, which cannot enter the blood at all. No matter how much supplements are taken, it is useless. However, many studies have now suggested that as long as the time difference between taking supplements and eating high-tannic acid foods (strong tea, persimmons, hawthorns, etc.) is increased by more than 2 hours, there will be basically no impact. There is no need to directly blacklist strong tea, which is still very friendly to tea lovers.

What is more hidden and dangerous than this tannic acid pit is actually grapefruit. Last year, a 60-year-old old fan came to me and said that he had been taking nattokinase for half a year to regulate blood lipids. Recently, he always felt muscle soreness and lack of energy. After asking about his diet, I found out that he heard others say that grapefruit is antioxidant, and he drinks a glass of freshly squeezed grapefruit juice every morning with supplements. Don’t underestimate this glass of juice. The furanocoumarins in grapefruit will directly cause the CYP3A4 enzyme in the liver that is responsible for metabolizing foreign substances to "go on strike." Whether it is a supplement or the antihypertensive and lipid-lowering drugs you usually take, the metabolic rate will be 3-5 times slower. If the originally safe dose is accumulated in the body, side effects may occur in mild cases, or even poisoning in severe cases. And this is really not a small problem. Now many nutrition societies have clearly stated that it is best to completely avoid grapefruit and its products while taking any dietary supplements or drugs. This is a rare taboo that is not too controversial.

Some people may want to refute this. I read popular science before and said that taking fat-soluble supplements such as vitamin D and fish oil requires some fat for easy absorption. Why are high-fat foods still a taboo? Alas, this is the truth that too much is never enough. A small amount of fat can indeed help dissolve and absorb fat-soluble nutrients, but if you have just finished a butter hotpot or fried a whole fried chicken for dinner, and then take vitamin D and vitamin A at this time, the excess fat will wrap these nutrients, and the intestines will not have time to absorb them and they will be excreted directly from the body. I once had a client who deliberately took a fried dough stick with his supplement every morning in order to supplement vitamin D. After half a year of supplementation, the 25-hydroxyvitamin D was still low. For this reason, he replaced it with a piece of whole wheat bread and 10 grams of peanut butter, and the supplement was restored in two months.

There is also a mistake that many people tend to make, which is to just take whatever they need. For example, when taking calcium tablets, they drink bone broth all the time, thinking that the double calcium supplement is effective. In fact, the fat and free phosphate in the bone broth will combine with calcium ions to form insoluble calcium phosphate, which not only cannot be supplemented, but also easily aggravates constipation. In the same way, girls who take isoflavone supplements to treat menopause or aunt problems drink soy milk and eat tofu every day. Soybeans themselves contain a large amount of phytoestrogens. Excessive supplementation can easily lead to breast swelling and pain and aunt cycle disorders. It is really unnecessary.

Oh, by the way, many people now like to buy melatonin to help them sleep, but they still can't fall asleep after taking it. It is most likely because they drank caffeinated things such as coffee and milk tea in the afternoon or evening. Caffeine will directly counteract the sedative effect of melatonin and accelerate the metabolism of B vitamins. If you are also taking B vitamins to relieve fatigue, you are spending money on both sides. However, there are exceptions. If you eat B-complex to refresh yourself, then pairing it with coffee can prolong the refreshing time and reduce the jitteriness caused by coffee. This is not a taboo, but a pairing skill.

In fact, most of the remaining taboos are the same: high dietary fiber cereals and green juice will absorb mineral supplements such as iron, zinc, and magnesium, so don’t show off a big bowl of cereal salad just after taking the supplements. It will be fine after two hours.； High-sodium takeaways and pickles will accelerate the excretion of potassium, and will also produce free radicals that offset the effects of antioxidant supplements such as grape seeds and astaxanthin. It is better to avoid heavy meals while taking supplements. ； If spinach and amaranth with high oxalic acid are eaten together with calcium and magnesium tablets, it is easy to produce calcium oxalate and increase the risk of stones. However, as long as you blanch them for 1 minute in advance to remove 80% of the oxalic acid, there is no problem at all. Oh, and alcohol. Needless to say, no matter what supplements you take, don’t drink alcohol, especially liver-protecting and B-complex supplements. Alcohol will not only consume all these nutrients, but also increase the burden on the liver. It is equivalent to taking supplements while tearing down the house, which is completely useless.

In fact, in the five or six years I have been doing nutritional consulting, I have seen too many people who dare not take or touch this just to take supplements. In fact, it is really unnecessary. Most of the so-called "taboos" only restrict "simultaneous consumption". As long as the time difference is 2-3 hours, it will basically not have much impact. After all, dietary supplements are originally used to fill dietary gaps and provide convenience to life. If you spend your life scrimping for them, then you are really putting the cart before the horse, right?