"The benefits of green tea depends on the bioavailability of its active components, - says one of the study's authors Bang San Yeoh (Beng San Yeoh) -. It is not only what we eat, but also when we eat and what products it combine."

Scientists have studied the relationship between tea and iron products in the example experiments with laboratory mice suffering from inflammatory bowel disease.

This disease is associated with chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract and usually leads to diarrhea, pain, fatigue, weight loss and other symptoms, including iron deficiency. For this reason, patients with inflammatory bowel disease prescribed iron supplements.

Experiments on mice have shown that when green tea is consumed with iron supplements or foods rich in this element (red meat, olives, cabbage, kale), the main antioxidant of tea - epigallocatechin gallate (of EGCG) - bind to iron.

Green tea is useful for patients with intestinal disease because EGCG inhibits myeloperoxidase - proinflammatory enzyme that is released by white blood cells in response to stimuli. However, almost simultaneous consumption of EGCG and iron leads to the fact that the EGCG molecule bound to the iron lose their ability to inhibit myeloperoxidase, and hence the effectiveness of green tea reduced.

"Patients with inflammatory bowel disease who take iron supplements and drinking green tea, you should know as a nourishing component affects the other," - says a leading researcher Matam Vijay-Kumar (Matam Vijay-Kumar). Although the study was conducted in rodents, however, he says the scientist, the results are quite applicable and to the people.