Matcha has never been hotter. The Japanese green tea is everywhere, and it doesn’t seem likely to go away any time soon. The ingredient shines in lattes — be they standard, strawberry, lemon pepper, or Dubai chocolate flavored. It’s in cakes, cookies, puddings, and more. Someone even used it to make pasta.
The traditional tea has been on an absolute tear popularity-wise as of late. Here in the U.S., sales have swelled by over 86 percent in the past three years, according to global research firm NIQ, and shortages plague the industry. But as consumers flood coffee and tea shops for their next fix, they may not be aware of the fact that drinking too much matcha could do more than provide a caffeine jolt. It may also impact the body’s ability to absorb one crucial nutrient: iron.
This past summer, several videos went viral on social media of people covered in bruises or sitting at the doctor receiving an iron infusion with each poster pointing to matcha as the culprit. “RIP to my matcha era,” they declared. One user even went so far as to assert that you can’t have matcha if you’re iron deficient. As it turns out, there is some truth to the claims.
Matcha is made by grinding the leaves of shade-grown green tea into a fine powder, which results in high levels of antioxidants and the tea’s signature, deep green color. Because matcha is powdered, you consume the whole green tea leaves rather than steeping them in water, meaning one cup of matcha has a nutritional value roughly equivalent to three cups of green tea. And green tea contains polyphenols and tannins — two things known to inhibit iron intake.
As nutritionist Farzanah Nasser explained to Vogue, these compounds bond to non-heme iron, preventing the body from absorbing the nutrient critical for hemoglobin production. (Non-heme iron is a type of iron found in plants that’s responsible for 90 percent of the body’s iron intake.) There’s also caffeine to consider, which has been demonstrated to suppress the bioavailability of non-heme iron when consumed in high quantities. Further complicating matters is the fact that calcium can also block iron uptake — bad news for those who prefer their matcha lattes with dairy milk.
If it all sounds frightening, the good news is that it takes quite a bit of matcha to impact the body’s ability to absorb iron. According to registered dietician Aisling Pigott, who spoke with CNN, having one matcha per day is unlikely to cause issues. As she explains, it’s typically only when consumed in large quantities — in her words, around seven per day — that matcha will potentially block the amount of iron the body takes in. Furthermore, those with iron deficiencies need not avoid the tea altogether.
To reduce the risk of matcha interfering with nutrient absorption, Pigott recommends consuming the beverage between meals so as not to interfere with the non-heme iron found in foods. It’s also important to note that how much the body absorbs depends on the remainder of one’s diet, so eating iron-rich, plant-based foods at mealtimes is highly beneficial. For a further boost, Nasser recommends consuming foods high in vitamin C or taking a supplement, as the macronutrient enhances the bioavailability of iron, allowing for easier absorption.
While it may take an abundance of matcha to cause random bruising, in the era of overconsumption, matcha’s potential to block iron absorption is a reminder that while it’s perfectly OK to indulge, too much of anything will never be a good thing.
