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Cheap and easy ways to boost your nutrition: maximize absorption

Calcium

Avoid salt in excess. There is evidence that every teaspoon of salt (which brings in about 2000 mg of sodium) leads to the excretion of significant amounts of calcium in the urine. Even if your calcium intake is adequate, this loss could affect your bone health.

Cut out smoking and limit your intake of alcohol and caffeine (from coffee, colas, chocolate, tea.) All three decrease calcium" absorption.

Dark green leafy vegetables — in particular fenugreek (methi), spinach, amaranth and drumstick leaves — are sources of abundant calcium. However, the calcium from plant sources cannot be taken at its face value. Some plants contain oxalates which undermine calcium absorption.

Again, plant foods, because they are high in fibre (eg. wheat bran) or phosphates (eg. cereals, especially whole-grain), have been found to interfere with calcium absorption.

Maximise calcium absorption by ensuring you get enough vitamin D, which your body needs to assimilate calcium. Vitamin D sources include sunlight, milk and dairy products, some fish (eg salmon and sardines), foods fortified with this vitamin (eg. breakfast cereals, some processed breads) and supplements,

Iron

Iron from animal sources such as meat and liver ("heme iron") is better absorbed than mat from plant products like leafy vegetables ("non-heme iron"). But combining a vegetable source of iron with animal protein such as meat or fish increases iron absorption from the plant source.

Vitamin C increases the absorption of iron—for instance, a glass of orange juice, along with an iron-rich food at breakfast increases iron absorption from a plant source such as cereal by two to five times.

Even if your breakfast is accompanied by coffee (which is notorious for reducing iron absorption) you'll still absorb more than twice as much iron if you accompany the meal with a C-rich fruit such as an orange or a supplement

Vitamin C works better at boosting iron absorption when taken in divided doses with each meal than in a single large dose with breakfast.

Cooking foods in iron pots and pans adds iron to these foods (especially if they're acidic foods which leach out the iron from the cookware). So does cooking in steelware (not stainless steel) which is 98% iron. A study at Texas Tech University found that stir-frying in steel woks increases the iron content of foods by 200 to 500 per cent! When aluminium or stainless steel vessels are used, this source is lost.

Iron-deficiency anemia in India is thought to be due not to poor intake of iron, but poor absorption due to the high amounts of phytates in our cereal-based diets.

The germination of grains brings into play an enzyme which breaks down the phytates, making more iron available.

Baking also increases absorption.

Copper, as well as manganese and cobalt, are essential for your body to properly utilize iron.

Leafy vegetables (spinach, in particular) have a high content of iron, but again because of the phosphates present in them only 50 per cent of their iron can be assimilated by the body.

The polyphenols in coffee and the tannins in tea take a toll on iron, especially non-heme iron, the kind found in plant foods. Studies at the University of Kansas have found that a cup of coffee taken with a hamburger meal reduces the amount of iron absorbed by about 40 per cent, a cup of tea by nearly 90 per cent.

Tannins are also present in cereals, pulses, soyabeans and condiments like tamarind, turmeric and chillis.

Excess alcohol intake depletes iron. By impairing liver function, alcohol makes it more difficult for nutrients to be absorbed; it also depletes the body's stores. In particular, B vitamins, but also calcium, iron, zinc and vitamins C, D and A, are jeopardized.

Avoid taking calcium in high amounts along with an iron-rich meal — calcium interferes with the absorption of iron.

Parasitic infestations cause blood loss and thereby iron loss. Culprits include hookworm, whipworm and malarial parasites.

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