Micronutrients & recovery
Dietary fat can enhance the bioavailability of hydrophobic flavonoids (like quercetin and procyanidins) by improving micellization, whereas hydrophilic flavonoids are less affected by fat intake.
If you eat hydrophobic flavonoids (like those in dark chocolate or certain teas), adding a small amount of healthy fat (like nuts or cream) can improve how much your body absorbs. This doesn't apply to all flavonoids, but it's a useful trick for maximizing benefits from specific sources.
There may be important interactions with the more hydrophobic (lower number of hydroxyl groups) flavonoids... an improved bioavailability of quercetin was observed in pigs fed quercetin together with test meals that differed in fat contents.
Why this rating
Evidence comes from animal models (pigs, mice) and small human studies (n=9), with limited large-scale human data.
Source
The role of metabolism (and the microbiome) in defining the clinical efficacy of dietary flavonoids
Aedín Cassidy et al. · American Journal of Clinical Nutrition · 2016
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