Tea and 6 Foods: The Incompatibility Puzzle

Chinese tea culture is the culture of tea making and drinking in China. Chinese tea culture has a long history and is profound, not only encompassing material culture, but also deep spiritual civilization. Over thousands of years, China has not only accumulated a wealth of material culture related to tea planting and production, but also rich spiritual culture related to tea. Today, we are going to introduce "Tea and 6 Foods that are Incompatible". Which foods will become "poison" when consumed with tea?

1. Alcohol

Many people like to drink tea after drinking alcohol, hoping to achieve the effects of moisturizing, relieving alcohol, aiding digestion, and promoting diuresis. However, this is not beneficial to the kidneys. After drinking alcohol, when tea is consumed, the diuretic effect of tea alkaloids can lead to the entry of alcohol metabolite acetaldehyde into the kidneys, which can cause damage to the kidneys due to the irritant nature of acetaldehyde. Symptoms such as kidney coldness, impotence, frequent cloudy urine, and testicular pain may occur.

2. Eggs

Boiling eggs with tea water will result in highly concentrated tea, which contains a large amount of tannic acid. Tannic acid can turn protein in food into indigestible coagulated substance, affecting the absorption and utilization of protein by the body. Eggs are high-protein foods, so they should not be boiled with tea water.

3. Dog meat

Dog meat is rich in protein, while tea leaves contain a large amount of tannic acid. If tea is consumed immediately after eating dog meat, the tannic acid in tea will combine with the protein in dog meat to form tannic acid protein. This substance has astringent properties, can weaken intestinal peristalsis, cause constipation, and passive absorption of toxic substances and carcinogens produced by metabolism in the intestines, which is not conducive to health. Therefore, it is best not to drink tea after eating dog meat.
 

4. Lamb

Although eating lamb regularly is beneficial to the body, when drinking tea with lamb, the rich protein in lamb can "marry" with the tannic acid in tea to form a substance called carbonate protein. This substance has a certain astringent effect on the intestines, can weaken intestinal peristalsis, reduce the water content in the stool, and easily cause constipation.

Therefore, it is not advisable to eat lamb and drink tea at the same time. After eating lamb, it is also not advisable to drink tea immediately. It is best to wait for 2-3 hours before drinking tea.

5. Medications

The tannic acid in tea can react chemically with certain medications (such as ferrous sulfate tablets, ammonium ferric citrate, berberine, etc.), resulting in precipitation and affecting the absorption of medications.

If tranquilizers (such as phenobarbital, diazepam, etc.) are taken with tea, the stimulants in tea, such as caffeine and theophylline, will counteract or weaken the sedative effect of the medication.

6. Sugar

Tea is bitter and cool in nature. People drink tea to stimulate the digestive glands, promote the secretion of digestive juices, and enhance digestive function. The cool nature of tea can also achieve the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying. If sugar is added to tea, it will inhibit these functions.