CLAIM: Taking certain supplement combinations hinders their absorption and cancels out each other’s effects

FACT: Misleading as most supplements are a combination of multiple metals and minerals

A Youtube video has claimed that intake of supplement combinations can interfere with their absorption or “cancel out each other’s effects."

"If we take calcium and magnesium together then there is no benefit because both are absorbed through the same receptor and can block the absorption of each other," the video contends. "Taking calcium and iron together does not absorb them. So, you should not take them together.”

The video has around 120,000 views and nearly 7,000 likes. The channel has a subscriber count of 2.71 million.

What’s the Fact

Dr Vijay Lal Varma, a general physician and nutritionist at AIIMS New Delhi described the claim as “misleading,”  as most supplements are a combination of multiple metals and minerals. 

“The supplement tablets or whichever form people are taking it in, have different proportions of all these minerals. Such as a multi vitamin tablet would be having, calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron all together in various amounts. Therefore, the idea of only consuming one supplement such as "magnesium" is not practical,” Dr Varma told First Check. 

He advised people not to consume supplements needlessly and to do so only if recommended by a physician. For the majority of healthy adults, a balanced diet and consuming food regularly is enough to meet their nutrient needs.

Dr Varma largely agreed with another point made in the video, claiming that vitamin C intake helps improve the absorption of iron.

“Yes, this is true. Iron does get absorbed better when there's an adequate amount of Vitamin C levels in the body,” he said.  “But it is not necessary to consume both together.”

Also read: FACT CHECK: Fact Check: Do detox supplements actually help in removing toxins and improving health? - First Check