SACRAMENTO, Calif. — When it comes to nutrient absorption, what you eat and when you eat it both matter. Here's three tips for making sure you're reaping all the benefits of the healthy food you're eating.
1. Adding healthy fats to meals can increase nutrient absorption. Certain vitamins are fat-soluble which means they can only be absorbed when fats are present. For example, adding healthy fats like flax seeds to a smoothie will help the body absorb all the vitamins from the other foods in the smoothie better.
2. Pairing iron rich foods with foods high in Vitamin C helps the body absorb more iron. When eating beans, which are high in iron, adding high Vitamin C foods, like red peppers or even just lemon juice, can help the body absorb more of the iron.
3. When adding black pepper to meals it can increase the absorption of nutrients in the bloodstream. This is because black pepper stimulates hydrochloric acid in the stomach which improves digestion and absorption of the foods we eat.
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