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Mixing milk and meat is prohibited by an ancient Jewish law. Jews have followed those rules for millennia out of religious belief, not science.

Modern science can probably dig deeper and find actual reasons to follow such rules - is there any such research that proves mixing meat and milk might cause health issues, hence better be avoided?

Monica Cellio
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Shadow Wizard Love Zelda
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    @kenorb there are other Jewish rules that make sense - not eating pork in a hot country is a good idea, it is likely to go off quickly. He wants to know (I think) whether or not there is a similar health background to Meat + Milk, or if it was simply a rule for respect to the animals. – Tim Apr 14 '15 at 15:41
  • I'm not a Jew, but answered at Judaism, although I couldn't find any scientific studies to support that. Only from 2007 and 2010 which says consumption of milk and processed meat could cause prostate cancer, but these studies aren't clear how they consumed meat and dairy (whether mixed or not). – kenorb Apr 14 '15 at 17:05
  • Unless there is some time frame that you can't consume one after you consume the other I am not sure what kind of benefit it will have as they can easily mix up in the digestive track later. – Joe W Apr 20 '15 at 22:57
  • @JoeW If milk + meat was more prone to spoilage this could be a reason against mixing them--it's like the rule against pork made sense at the time and place that it came about. – Loren Pechtel Apr 24 '15 at 22:15

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Scientific research has been conducted on the absorption of nutrients provided by both food groups when combined. From a nutritional point of view, the absorption of both calcium and iron could have the former prevent the absorption of the latter.

In single-meal human absorption studies, both haem- and non-haem-Fe absorption was inhibited by Ca supplements and by dairy products, the effect depending on the simultaneous presence of Ca and Fe in the lumen of the upper small intestine and also occurring when Ca and Fe were given in the fasting state. The quantitative effect, although dose dependent, was modified by the form in which Ca was administered and by other dietary constituents (such as phosphate, phytate and ascorbic acid) known to affect Fe bioavailability.

and

The results of most multiple-meal human studies suggest that Ca supplementation will have only a small effect on Fe absorption unless habitual Ca consumption is very low. Outcome analyses showed that Ca supplements had no effect on Fe status in infants fed Fe-fortified formula, lactating women, adolescent girls and adult men and women. However it should be noted that the subjects studied had adequate intakes of bioavailable Fe and, except in one study, had relatively high habitual Ca intakes.

See: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19087437

Ropstah
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  • I've had multiple downvotes on this answer but not a single comment as to why... – Ropstah Apr 30 '15 at 10:24
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    I believe that you are getting downvotes because your answer lacks explanation. Why does the absorption of calcium and iron prevent the absorption of iron? You do provide a link, but it is better to include the essential parts of that link in the answer. Could you please do this? Thanks :) – michaelpri May 30 '15 at 02:56
  • @michaelpri, i get what you're saying. The questioner asked for scientific research about the matter, I just wanted to point out the original article I knew existed. I added the most important bits of the abstract. – Ropstah May 31 '15 at 10:37
  • I upvoted this already, and in this time I guess I won't get any better answer, so accepting it as well. Thanks! – Shadow Wizard Love Zelda Jun 07 '15 at 14:42