How Does Nutrient Absorption Effect Our Health?

Oct 28, 2020

Nutrient absorption can vary from person to person, even meal to meal. The number of nutrients that your body absorbs from food as you metabolize it in the digestive tract can range from less than 10 percent to greater than 90 percent. Adequate nutrient levels are vital to our well-being and yet there are many possible causes for poor nutrient absorption.

 Having a weak gut lining; a microbiome imbalance, such as bacterial or fungal overgrowth (aka dysbiosis); damage to the intestines from inflammation or infection; prolonged use of antibiotics; celiac disease; leaky gut syndrome; Crohn’s disease; food allergies; surgery; liver disease; pancreatic insufficiency; or an autoimmune disease can all cause poor nutrient absorption.

After years of junk food binge-eating, I had done so much damage to my gut that I was not absorbing nutrients from the majority of what I ate. Although I was eating a lot of food, I was chronically malnourished! My solution was to do a detoxifying cleanse and follow this up with supplementation to boost my nutrient intake.

Clean, whole foods are the ideal source of nutrition if you are healthy and your organs are functioning well. But in my opinion, doing a detox is incredibly important if you are unwell and you want to ensure that your body is absorbing the maximum quantity of nutrients from your foods and supplements. I write more about this in my new book Anxiety-Free with Food which is now available for pre-order on Amazon.