If you try to be a healthy eater, combining lean protein, complex carbohydrates and limited amounts of unsaturated fats, you're on a good path toward sound nutrition. Certain food combinations and other factors -- age, gender, genetics, general health and gastrointestinal tract health -- affect how well your body absorbs the nutrients you've put together, notes nutrition professor Marie Dunford in "Nutrition for Sport and Exercise." The complexity of the interactions of various foods further underscores the need for a balanced diet so that you indeed get a little bit of everything.
Step 1
Eat meat, poultry and fish for the best absorption of meat-based iron, called "heme iron." Eat vegetables, fruits and grains that contain plant iron, called "non-heme iron," such as fortified cereals, certain beans and spinach, in conjunction with meats for best absorption of non-heme iron.
Step 2
Eat foods containing vitamin C at the same meal as high-iron plant sources to enhance non-heme iron absorption and the absorption of chromium. Foods high in vitamin C include red bell peppers, guava, kiwi fruit, orange and grapefruit juice and green bell peppers, as well as strawberries and cantaloupe and papaya, each of which contain 45 mg or more of vitamin C per serving.
Step 3
Consume regular amounts of tea, coffee, whole grains, legumes or dairy products. Although these can decrease the amount of non-heme iron at a meal, the amount of iron inhibition from these food sources is not a concern for healthy people who consume a varied diet, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states.
Step 4
Eat protein sources, such as meat, poultry and fish, to increase the absorption of zinc, found in shellfish especially, and of selenium, found in cabbage, beets and garlic. Meals containing vitamins E and A also increase selenium absorption.
Step 5
Avoid oversupplementation of minerals, as they compete with each other for absorption due to chemical similarities, Dunford advises. For example, a high intake of zinc can reduce your absorption of copper, iron and calcium, as these minerals compete for the same cellular receptor sites. Similarly, if you take an excess of either magnesium or calcium, the absorption of the other is decreased. As calcium and iron are also competitors, it may be best to obtain minerals from your meals rather than supplements to avoid these conflicts, Dunford concludes.
Step 6
Avoid medicines that interact to limit your nutrition absorption from meals. Antacids, for example, interfere with iron absorption, and tetracycline bonds to calcium in dairy foods to move both quickly out of the body.
Member Comments