6 Tips to Improve Nutrient Absorption from Food

Nutrient absorption is basically a fancy term for digestion.

Nevertheless, knowing how your body absorbs each nutrient can help you be healthier and even enhance your workout!

Nutrients aren’t technically in your body until properly absorbed from your GI tract, which means optimizing nutrition involves getting a handle on what happens to nutrients once down the hatch!

While we have already discussed the benefits of enzymes for digestion, we haven't properly discussed the effects of nutrients in the body.

You might be getting plenty of fruits, vegetables and whole grains in your diet. But if your body isn’t digesting and absorbing those foods, you aren’t getting the maximum nutrition bang for your buck!

Nutrient absorption and digestion

If you've ever wondered "where are nutrients absorbed, exactly?" it helps to understand the difference between digestion and absorption.

Put simply, digestion is when your body mechanically and chemically breaks your food into molecules small enough to absorb. This includes chewing your tacos and then churning them in an acid bath in your stomach.

Watch out, fast eaters!

Digestion begins in your mouth and chewing is the first step to breaking down your food. Many foods like nuts are more efficiently digested by being chewed for a longer period.

Absorption is the process of transferring those molecular taco bits through the lining of your intestines and on to destinations throughout your body.

Nutrients are absorbed in the small intestine, passed onto the circular system and then pushed to the rest of your body.

Saliva is packed with enzymes that help begin the breakdown process in digestion, especially in the case of carbohydrates.

Stomach acid helps to further digest or break down food and nutrients like protein. Not many nutrients are absorbed in the stomach directly, except alcohol.

Types of nutrients and where to find them

Nutrient absorption deals with nutrients, so we have to know them first. There are two types of nutrients:

Macronutrients

Carbohydrates, proteins and fats. They're your body’s energy source since they provide calories.

They're the nutrients you use in the largest amounts.

Micronutrients

Vitamins and minerals. They don’t provide calories but are equally as important.

They are required in small amounts for normal cell growth and development across the lifecycle.

Deficiency of them can probably cause you nasty health issues, so better keep them close.

6 easy tips to help out with nutrient absorption

Like we said, the absorption of nutrients mostly occurs in the small intestine. With this in mind, here are 6 easy tips to help you better absorb vitamins and other nutrients from food:

1. Eat fats, be healthy

Fat helps to increase absorption of vitamins A, D, E, and K. So, don’t feel bad about adding in healthy fats from avocados or olive oil to your favorite dish.

2. Add Vitamin C to your diet

Vitamin C helps improve iron absorption from plants. This is especially important for vegetarians (iron from meat is better absorbed).

Do add a lemon squeeze and/or mandarin orange slices to your spinach salad.

3. Phytic acid and oxalates

Natural phytic acid and oxalates in plants can bind and decrease the absorption of both calcium and magnesium. Add milk to your protein shake… not your vegetable smoothie.

4. Become a coffee lover, or at least a consumer!

Caffeine can decrease the absorption of several nutrients. Grab a cup of coffee in between meals.

5. Another vitamin: Vitamin D

Calcium is much better absorbed with adequate vitamin D from food or sunlight.

Another great reason to sport a tank top on the weekend!

6. Pizza sauce. Yes, that's right. Pizza. Sauce.

Carotenoids like lycopene, which are powerful antioxidants, are better absorbed with fat and after cooking. This is the rare time pizza sauce beats out a whole tomato.

Some final thoughts and additional resources

Nutrient absorption can vary. The amount of nutrients that your body absorbs from food can range from less than 10% to greater than 90%. Food labels are great, but they won’t give you the whole story!

For more information check out the Linus Pauling Micronutrient Information Center!

Check out my free online courses if you want to expand your knowledge on nutrition and healthy eating. You can also head over to my Amazon page to see a list of my recommended supplements to support your health and wellbenig.