Food Synergy – optimal food combinations

You are what you eat – ever heard of that? When we eat, we get lots of nutrients that our body then uses to keep us going. We get energy from fats and carbohydrates. We make muscle from proteins. Our body carries out many different reactions using minerals and vitamins from the foods we eat. So, how does the food we eat impact us?

While people have always been interested in food, it’s only relatively recently that we started to develop nutritional science. In fact, only in the last century have we discovered vitamins and minerals that were important for our bodies and understood what their roles are. In the last thirty or so years we’ve started questioning what the connection is between the food we eat and the modern diseases, like diabetes and cancer, we develop¹.

Food is more than just vitamins and minerals

Food is not simply the calories, fats, protein and nutrients it contains – it’s made up of cells, non-cells and other things. These cells and molecules interact with our bodies in many complex ways, and it is hard for researchers to pinpoint all the interactions happening when a certain food is consumed. The foods also interact with each other’s cells and molecules, adding another layer of complexity².

What role does that play in nutritional science? It’s easily illustrated with an example. In a study, an association between eating tomatoes and having lower risk of prostate cancer was found. It was thought that lycopene, the pigment that gives tomato its colour, was responsible for the effect. However, when scientists tested lycopene, tomato powder, and a placebo, tomato powder was associated with better outcomes than lycopene on its own^3,4.

So, we can’t just look at the active ingredients and call it a day – we must look at how foods interact with each other. So it’s no surprise that science has found certain effective combinations of foods for health. They called this phenomenon food synergy⁵.

Working together for the benefit of health

You may not have noticed, but chances are you already know some combinations of foods and nutrients that work together, like calcium and vitamin D. Because vitamin D helps us take in calcium, these two are often eaten together or are present together in certain foods⁶.

Here are some more synergetic pairs and why they should be consumed together.

• Sodium and potassium. Sodium, which we obtain from salt, maintains fluid levels in the body, as it prevents blood vessels from relaxing and encourages the body to hang on to water. Potassium, on the other hand, helps the body excrete sodium, therefore decreasing the water retention effects of sodium⁷.
• Vitamin B12 and folate. Vitamin B12 helps folate be absorbed, stored, and metabolised in the body. Together, they support cell division and replication⁸.
• Vitamin C and iron. Vitamin C can chelate iron, binding to it and making it easily absorbed in the small intestine^9,10.
• Broccoli and tomato. Broccoli and tomato paired together have been shown to have stronger anti-cancer properties than just broccoli or tomato on their own¹¹.
• Quercetin and catechin. Quercetin is a chemical made by plants that’s found in apples, onions, and berries, while catechin is found in apples, green tea, and grape juice. These two play a role in preventing the aggregation of platelets, which work to prevent bleeding¹².