Why your cereal might not give you enough iron
Degradation of phytic acid in cereal porridges improves iron absorption by human subjects.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Some cereals have a natural chemical that blocks iron absorption. Removing it helps your body take in more iron — but only if you eat it with water, not milk.
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Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Some cereals have a natural chemical that blocks iron absorption. Removing it helps your body take in more iron — but only if you eat it with water, not milk.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 548 / 90
Evidence Score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Publication
Authors
Hurrell RF, Reddy MB, Juillerat MA, Cook JD
Related Content
Claims (6)
Phytic acid, a compound found in plant foods, binds to iron, calcium, zinc, and magnesium in the digestive tract, which decreases how much of these minerals the body can take up.
Removing phytic acid from sorghum porridge usually improves iron absorption, but this benefit does not occur when the sorghum has high levels of tannins. In sorghum with low tannins, the improvement in iron absorption still happens.
Breaking down phytic acid in cereals improves how much iron the body can absorb, but the amount of improvement varies by cereal type: maize and wheat show the biggest gains, while rice and oats show smaller improvements, depending on their natural phytate levels and structural composition.
Removing phytic acid from cereal porridges made with water improves how much iron the body absorbs from these meals, with absorption rates increasing significantly in both wheat and maize porridges.
Adding milk to cereal porridge that has been treated to remove phytic acid reduces the amount of iron the body can absorb, even when vitamin C is present.