Food and medication
Tea and coffee and medication
Tannins and polyphenols in tea, coffee and red wine reduce how much iron your body absorbs.
2 medicines on our checker are affected. Tap a medicine for every food and drink that matters with it.
Take care tea and coffee with these medicines
- Ferrous sulfate · ferrous sulphate, Ironorm Drops
Tea and coffee reduce how much iron you absorb, so leave 2 hours between them and your ferrous sulfate.
Where this comes from
“make sure you leave a 2 hour gap before having tea or coffee or any of these foods.”
Information from the NHS website - Iron supplements · ferrous sulphate, ferrous fumarate, ferrous gluconate
Tannins cut how much iron you absorb. Leave 1 to 2 hours between tea or coffee and your iron.
Foods and drinks that count as tea and coffee
- Tea
- Green tea
- Coffee
- Red wine
- Cocoa
- Chai
Common questions
- Which medicines does tea and coffee affect?
- 2 medicines on our checker: Ferrous sulfate (take care), Iron supplements (take care).
- Which foods count as tea and coffee?
- Tea, Green tea, Coffee, Red wine, Cocoa, Chai.
General information from NHS medicine pages and drug labels, not medical advice. Always follow your prescriber, pharmacist or the leaflet with your medicine. How we check.