How Long Should You Wait Between Tea and Iron?
Keep tea at least 1 hour away from iron supplements or iron-rich meals.
The short answer
Tea taken with an iron supplement or iron-rich meal may reduce iron absorption. In one controlled study, a gap of at least one hour reduced the effect.
Why it happens
Tea polyphenols can bind to nonheme iron and reduce how much the body absorbs. Nonheme iron is found mainly in plant foods and many supplements.
What to do
Do not drink tea at the same time as an iron supplement or iron-rich meal; leave at least one hour between them. If you are treating iron deficiency, follow your doctor or pharmacist's plan.
What the evidence actually showed
The core evidence is a controlled study showing that a gap of at least one hour between tea and an iron-containing meal reduced the inhibitory effect that tea has on iron absorption. The mechanism behind this is that tea polyphenols can bind to nonheme iron, the form found mainly in plant foods and many supplements, making less of it available for the body to absorb. Because the study focused on nonheme iron in a meal context, it gives a specific, testable interval — one hour — rather than a vague suggestion to keep them apart.
How to actually schedule it
The practical rule is straightforward: do not drink tea at the same time as an iron supplement or an iron-rich meal, and leave at least one hour between them in either direction. This is easiest to apply around a specific dose of iron or a meal you know is iron-rich, rather than trying to track every cup of tea throughout the day. If you are treating diagnosed iron deficiency, follow your doctor or pharmacist's plan, since instructions for a prescribed iron product may differ from the general meal-based finding this guidance is built on.
When this advice applies
The timing study mainly looked at nonheme iron in a meal. Instructions for a prescribed iron product may be different.
Common questions
How long should I wait between drinking tea and taking iron?
Keep tea at least 1 hour away from iron supplements or iron-rich meals. In a controlled study, a gap of at least one hour reduced the effect that tea has on iron absorption, so that one-hour figure is the specific interval this guidance is based on.
Why does tea reduce iron absorption?
Tea polyphenols can bind to nonheme iron and reduce how much the body absorbs. Nonheme iron is found mainly in plant foods and many supplements, which is why tea's effect is particularly relevant to those sources rather than to all forms of iron equally.
Does this one-hour rule apply to prescribed iron products too?
Not necessarily in the same way. The timing study mainly looked at nonheme iron in a meal, and instructions for a prescribed iron product may be different. If you are treating iron deficiency, follow your doctor or pharmacist's plan rather than assuming the one-hour meal-study gap applies exactly.
References
- A 1-h time interval between a meal containing iron and consumption of tea attenuates the inhibitory effects on iron absorptionAmerican Journal of Clinical Nutrition / PubMed · 2017
- AnaemiaWorld Health Organization · 2025
Updated July 31, 2026 · How to use this guidance