Coffee and Supplements. Why you shouldn’t take them together.
A lot of people don’t know that you shouldn’t take certain supplements alongside your cup of coffee.
Supplement scheduling is definitely a thing. Especially when you are trying to balance out something you are deficient in or needing a vitamin in a higher dose. It is not uncommon (including me) for young adults these days to have a pill case with the days of the week and AM/PM printed on it. But not only that, there are many factors that prevent absorption of the vitamins and minerals you are taking. Here we talk about coffee.
A general rule is to not take any supplements 1 hour of consuming coffee. This is mostly due to the fact that water soluble vitamins/minerals get pulled away from being absorbed. Here are the main supplements to consider:
Iron
An important mineral supplement for those who are anemic and have an animal protein reduced/free diet. The polyphenols in both coffee and tea like to bind to iron when consumed with your iron rich meal or supplement. Many studies are done on this effect and one in particular finds that when eating a iron rich meal such as a hamburger/steak, coffee reduces iron absorption by 39% and tea by a whooping 64%! (1) This isn’t normally a worry for someone who has adequate iron levels in the body, but for someone who has gut absorption issues or is anemic, this makes things more challenging.
Thiamine (Vitamin B1)
The effects coffee has on B-Vitamins is an interesting one. I find B vitamins are deficient in most people already as most are obtained from dark leafy greens and vegetables, other than B12 and Biotin. With Thiamine, the tannins in coffee, tea and wine bind to the vitamin and reduce absorption. (2) Having enough Vitamin C in your diet seems to reduce this effect. Other B vitamins don’t seem to be found yet to have been affected this way, but since they are water soluble you may get more excretion of them when drinking caffeinated beverages. Not the case with B12 though! The caffeine in coffee stimulates more gastric juice production that helps with B12 absorption. (3)
Calcium and Magnesium
I paired both of these up because the effects of coffee on them are similar and related. The caffeine in coffee increases excretion of calcium, magnesium, sodium, chloride and potassium by urination. (4) And the reabsorption of both of these minerals seems to be low with coffee consumption, so less of it ends up circulating in the body. For a healthy individual it doesn’t really cause issues with your health, even long term. But, someone who has increased risk of osteoporosis and is consuming lots of coffee there is a correlation of increased fracture risk, especially in women. (5) So best to be taking both of these in the evening away from your coffee and tea.
Vitamin D
A vitamin that a lot of us in Canada are deficient in, it’s actions and levels in the body get changed with moderate to high coffee consumption. Within research, the concentrations of vitamin d and the influence of coffee varies, mostly due to the fact that subjects in these trials are already low in vitamin d even when not consuming coffee. But since Vitamin D is so important in bone health why the increased fracture rates as stated above? Well one, both calcium and magnesium are being excreted more. And two, research has found that caffeine decreases Vitamin D Receptor (VDR) expression. (6) This receptor is important for bone formation by osteoblast cells. So even with sufficient levels of Vitamin D in the body those at risk of osteoporosis may be affected more by their high coffee consumption.
In Conclusion
This by no means is supposed to be a way to create shade on one of my favourite beverages or cause stress on your supplement regiment. But, it is good to be aware that your expensive supplements may be not working at their highest capacity alongside coffee/tea consumption. This is important in people who are symptomatic due to deficiency and needing to supply their bodies with the nutrients at higher quantities. I usually try to stick to the same series of actions every morning;
water, coffee, breakfast, supplements.
References
(1) Morck TA, Lynch SR, Cook JD. Inhibition of food iron absorption by coffee. Am J Clin Nutr. 1983;37(3):416-420. doi:10.1093/ajcn/37.3.416
(2) Kositawattanakul T, Tosukhowong P, Vimokesant SL, Panijpan B. Chemical interactions between thiamin and tannic acid. II. Separation of products. Am J Clin Nutr. 1977;30(10):1686-1691. doi:10.1093/ajcn/30.10.1686
(3) Desai HG, Zaveri MP, Antia FP. Letter: Increased vitamin B12 absorption after ingestion of coffee. Gastroenterology. 1973;65(4):694-695.
(4) Bergman EA, Massey LK, Wise KJ, Sherrard DJ. Effects of dietary caffeine on renal handling of minerals in adult women. Life Sci. 1990;47(6):557-564. doi:10.1016/0024-3205(90)90616-y
(5) Hallström H, Wolk A, Glynn A, Michaëlsson K. Coffee, tea and caffeine consumption in relation to osteoporotic fracture risk in a cohort of Swedish women. Osteoporos Int. 2006;17(7):1055-1064. doi:10.1007/s00198-006-0109-y