More often than not, nutrition news focuses on the health benefits of single foods: for instance, eating broccoli may help protect against cancer. But what we are frequently not told is how some foods make better partners than others. Lisa Patient writes
A cup of tea and a biscuit is one of life’s simple pleasures, but there are reasons why this pairing can be so satisfying. Fluids do help us soften food for swallowing, but there is also an interaction between the astringent tea and the fat in the biscuit. Research shows that combining astringent drinks and foods such as tea, wine or pickles with fatty foods reduces our perception of how fatty the food is. So, think of pickle with cheese or red wine with steak. Likewise, the fat in the food reduces the astringency of the combined food or drink. This means that red wine can taste smoother when accompanied with cheese, making the combination very moreish1 — nature can be very cruel indeed! (Although, the combination of equal fat and sugar, which works so deliciously in cakes, is not found in nature.)
However, whilst some food partnerships can make us eat more, others can be helpful, making a big difference to the nutrients that we actually absorb.
COMBINATIONS THAT HELP
• One feel-good combo that may help improve our mood is carbohydrate and protein, enabling better uptake of the amino acid tryptophan. Found in protein rich foods such as chicken, fish, dairy, soya, nuts and eggs, tryptophan is used by the brain to make the neurotransmitter serotonin, which helps mood and sleep.
To do its work, tryptophan has to cross a physical and chemical layer called the blood brain barrier, which is there to protect the brain from unwanted nutrients and toxins. However, it has to compete with all the other amino acids found in protein that are also trying to reach the brain. The solution to this is to eat carbohydrates with tryptophanrich foods. The carbohydrates cause the release of insulin, which lowers the levels of other amino acids in the blood except tryptophan, reducing the competition at the blood brain barrier and allowing more tryptophan to cross over.²
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