Nutrient digestion and absorption is necessary for the survival of living organisms and has evolved into the complex and specific task of the gastrointestinal (GI) system. While most people simply assume that their GI tract will work properly to use nutrients, provide energy, and release wastes, few nonscientists know the details about how various nutrients are digested and how the breakdown pr...

Patients who have undergone bariatric surgery are at increased risk of developing nutritional deficiencies from limited food intake and absorption of different nutrients. A systematic review of several database websites (PubMed and ISI Web of Science) was conducted from September 1983 to April 2010 to identify literature related to micronutrient deficiencies occurring after bariatric surgery. K...

Goodman BE. Insights into digestion and absorption of major nutrients in humans. Adv Physiol Educ 34: 44–53, 2010; doi:10.1152/ advan.00094.2009.—Nutrient digestion and absorption is necessary for the survival of living organisms and has evolved into the complex and specific task of the gastrointestinal (GI) system. While most people simply assume that their GI tract will work properly to use n...

Viscous polysaccharides reduce intestinal absorption of glucose and diminish postprandial hyperglycemia. However, it is unknown whether viscous fiber also inhibits absorption of nutrients under conditions of enteric feeding. Therefore, we measured the absorption rates of nutrients in miniature pigs by perfusing a 150-cm length of jejunum with 8.37 kJ/min of the three following enteral diets: an...

Flying vertebrates have been hypothesized to have a high capacity for paracellular absorption of nutrients. This could be due to high permeability of the intestines to nutrient-sized molecules (i.e., in the size range of amino acids and glucose, MW 75-180 Da). We performed intestinal luminal perfusions of an insectivorous bat, Tadarida brasiliensis. Using radio-labeled molecules, we measured th...

Animal guts and plant roots have absorption roles for nutrient uptake and converge in harboring large, complex, and dynamic groups of microbes that participate in degradation or modification of nutrients and other substances. Gut and root bacteria regulate host gene expression, provide metabolic capabilities, essential nutrients, and protection against pathogens, and seem to share evolutionary ...

In nutritional epidemiology, it is often assumed that nutrient absorption is proportional to nutrient intake. For several nutrients, including non-haem Fe, this assumption may not hold. Depending on the nutrients ingested with non-haem Fe, its availability for absorption varies greatly. Therefore, using Fe intake to examine associations between Fe and health can impact upon the validity of find...