a The gut is a muscular tube, whose motility patterns induce flows that affect the abundance of nutrients and bacteria.

Abundances, in turn, feed back on motility. b Mathematical notation. c and d In vitro spatiotemporal map of the contraction amplitude observed for the small intestine of mice, during peristalsis and segmentation [ 14 ], respectively.

Data from Ref. a Courtesy of Sara Gabrielli. Flow velocity governs residence times and nutrient absorption. Alternating patterns improve efficiency and bacterial regulation. Adding a meal at 18 min triggers strong bacterial growth purple dashed line.

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author s and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained.

Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures. Physical Review Letters Highlights Recent Accepted Collections Authors Referees Search Press About Editorial Team.

Featured in Physics Editors' Suggestion Open Access. Changing Flows Balance Nutrient Absorption and Bacterial Growth along the Gut Agnese Codutti, Jonas Cremer, and Karen Alim Phys.

Article References Citing Articles 2 Supplemental Material Article References Citing Articles 2 Supplemental Material PDF HTML Export Citation. Abstract Small intestine motility and its ensuing flow of luminal content impact both nutrient absorption and bacterial growth.

Research Areas. Physical Systems. Physics of Living Systems Nonlinear Dynamics Fluid Dynamics Interdisciplinary Physics General Physics. Optimizing Flow Speed is Essential for the Gut Published 23 September Fluid dynamics simulations suggest that the varying flow speed inside the small intestine maximizes nutrient absorption while minimizing excess bacteria.

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How you combine foods can majorly impact the benefit you get from them: increasing the absorption of important nutrients and boosting the effectiveness of antioxidants.

See which surprising food combos nutritionists recommend the most. To best absorb non-heme iron, aka plant-based iron, you need to give it a little boost by pairing it with a source of vitamin C. The vitamin C helps break the iron down into a form that the body can more easily absorb.

Add a squeeze of lemon or orange juice to a spinach salad , or toss diced apples into a lentil dish. Lycopene may help prevent prostate cancer, for starters. Whip up a tomato sauce with olive oil, or drizzle oil onto baked tomatoes.

Or combine the ingredients in a summer grain bowl or a tomato naan pizza. Spicy stir-fry, anyone? The spice can help relieve symptoms of arthritis and may also benefit kidney health, according to a review study published in Redox Biology. While there haven't yet been enough human studies to fully understand how it works, preclinical studies show a slew of promising benefits that make it worthwhile to integrate a little turmeric into your diet.

This vitamin-and-mineral combo will help keep your bones healthy. To get this pairing right, eat foods offering vitamin D, such as salmon, tuna, egg yolks or fortified foods like milk and non-dairy beverages such as soymilk and orange juice.

Eat a variety of calcium-providing foods, including collard greens, broccoli, dried figs, oranges and dairy foods. Other protein sources like nuts, legumes, grains, and vegetables are incomplete, meaning they lack one or more of the essential amino acids needed for growth and development.

But by pairing incomplete proteins together, you can create a complete protein source. I like my chili lime Buddha bowls for a balanced lunch or dinner! Getting enough of these vitamins and maximally absorbing them is important because deficiencies are connected with heightened risk of cancer and type 2 diabetes.

If possible, make the fat source a largely unsaturated one, such as nuts, seeds, avocado , olive oil or olives. Want more tips like these? NBC News BETTER is obsessed with finding easier, healthier and smarter ways to live. Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram.

And micronutrients, such as the B vitamins and other vitamins and minerals, although not used for energy directly, are still used in the metabolism of energy production. Another common issue is nutrient competition.

After all, Mother Nature packaged nutrients together, so is it really necessary for you to separate them? There are cases where you may need to supplement with a single vitamin or mineral.

For example, your doctor may recommend iron supplements to correct anemia; female athletes or older people often need extra calcium; and experts recommend that women of childbearing age take extra folic acid to prevent some types of birth defects.

Slightly boosting your intake of individual vitamins or minerals, however, is OK, according to Mindell. Consider, for instance, that vitamin C greatly enhances absorption of iron and vitamin D improves calcium uptake. Follow the guidelines outlined here, and you just may find it a whole lot easier to get what you need.

For the most part, vitamin and mineral supplements are absorbed the same way as whole food. This article has been updated. Your email address will not be published. Join Members Experience Life Work Living Store More Sites. Life Time Athletic Events Life Time Foundation Life Time Academy Culture of Inclusion.

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How Does the Body Absorb Nutrients? Knowing how your body absorbs nutrients can help you fuel your workouts — and your life. By Victoria Freeman. Thoughts to share?

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There are, in fact, lots of things that influence what percentage of vitamins and minerals are absorbed, such as the other foods you eat at the same meal, how they are prepared, drugs or supplements you may be taking, even your age and the time of day.

Before I get into some specific examples, however, I want to clear up a common misunderstanding about the nutrient content of foods. The Nutrient Content of Foods Varies…a Lot The USDA maintains a huge database of the nutritional composition of thousands of foods.

How you combine your foods can play a major role in the absorption of nutrients. Pairing foods wisely can increase the nutrient absorption and also promote the overall health. Protein is the utmost essential nutrient to be taken care of when we pair various foods to get absorbed by the body.

Include protein-rich foods in every meal to get maximum benefits from healthy food pairings. Here are some of the popular food combinations that can help you get the most of the nutrients through the food you eat. This is because Vitamin C helps to break down the non-heme iron into a form that can be absorbed and used by the cells.

So squeeze a lemon to a bowl of spinach salad or drink a glass of orange juice after eating a meal rich in iron. But to aid the absorption of the mineral from diet and supplements you need Vitamin D. Thus the combination of Vitamin D and calcium is a must to ensure absorption of dietary calcium in the intestine.

So eat a variety of calcium-rich foods such as dairy, tofu, etc. with Vitamin D fortified cereals, milk, or orange juice. This is the reason, why you should eat foods rich in these vitamins with foods that can provide good amounts of fats such as nuts, pumpkin seeds, olive oil, etc.

It is better to choose foods that contain unsaturated fats as these are healthy in nature. For example, you need to eat a handful of nuts to ensure the absorption of Vitamin A and Vitamin K present in green leafy vegetables.

Buy best Vitamin and Mineral Supplements at 1mg at an affordable price. If you are the kind of person who finishes everything on their plate within 5 minutes, then there is a high chance that you are not chewing your food properly.

And if you are not, then the chances of absorption of nutrients through food is also low. When you chew your food, it not only activates the enzymes present in the mouth but also aids in the digestion. According to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition[2], fats and vitamins like Vitamin E were more easily accessible and absorbed when study participants chewed almonds 40 times as against when they chewed only 10 times.

This is because chewing breaks down the cell wall of the almonds thus helping in the absorption of nutrients. So remember to chew your food slowly and properly so as to ensure the absorption of nutrients from food.

It is not just what you eat but also how you eat can affect the process of digestion. When you are stressed, the brain releases stress hormones such as cortisol that makes your heart beat faster.

This causes the body to devote its energy to deal with stress. As a result, the digestive process slows down which in turn affects the process of nutrient absorption.

Being stressed also slows down the gastric emptying and intestinal transit time and affects the digestion, absorption, and metabolism of nutrients present in food.

Pairing foods wisely can increase the nutrient absorption and also promote the overall health. Protein is the utmost essential nutrient to be taken care of when we pair various foods to get absorbed by the body.

Include protein-rich foods in every meal to get maximum benefits from healthy food pairings. Here are some of the popular food combinations that can help you get the most of the nutrients through the food you eat.

This is because Vitamin C helps to break down the non-heme iron into a form that can be absorbed and used by the cells. So squeeze a lemon to a bowl of spinach salad or drink a glass of orange juice after eating a meal rich in iron.

But to aid the absorption of the mineral from diet and supplements you need Vitamin D. Thus the combination of Vitamin D and calcium is a must to ensure absorption of dietary calcium in the intestine. So eat a variety of calcium-rich foods such as dairy, tofu, etc.

with Vitamin D fortified cereals, milk, or orange juice. This is the reason, why you should eat foods rich in these vitamins with foods that can provide good amounts of fats such as nuts, pumpkin seeds, olive oil, etc. It is better to choose foods that contain unsaturated fats as these are healthy in nature.

For example, you need to eat a handful of nuts to ensure the absorption of Vitamin A and Vitamin K present in green leafy vegetables. Buy best Vitamin and Mineral Supplements at 1mg at an affordable price.

If you are the kind of person who finishes everything on their plate within 5 minutes, then there is a high chance that you are not chewing your food properly. And if you are not, then the chances of absorption of nutrients through food is also low.

When you chew your food, it not only activates the enzymes present in the mouth but also aids in the digestion. According to a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition[2], fats and vitamins like Vitamin E were more easily accessible and absorbed when study participants chewed almonds 40 times as against when they chewed only 10 times.

This is because chewing breaks down the cell wall of the almonds thus helping in the absorption of nutrients. So remember to chew your food slowly and properly so as to ensure the absorption of nutrients from food.

It is not just what you eat but also how you eat can affect the process of digestion. When you are stressed, the brain releases stress hormones such as cortisol that makes your heart beat faster.

This causes the body to devote its energy to deal with stress. As a result, the digestive process slows down which in turn affects the process of nutrient absorption. Being stressed also slows down the gastric emptying and intestinal transit time and affects the digestion, absorption, and metabolism of nutrients present in food.

Moreover, it is also advised to eat mindfully by savouring eat and every bite. As it not only helps you to chew properly and break down the food into easily assimilated and digestible form but also enhances the nutrient absorption.

Make it a habit to avoid distractions such as using phones or watching TV while having meals. Also, relish every bite you eat as it helps in the secretion of the digestive juices in the stomach and allows it to mix with the ingested food.

We have always been told that eating a fruit is better than drinking the juice. However, it is not always true. It turns out that nutrient absorption from certain types of juices is better than the whole fruit. This is because the fibre present in whole fruit may bind to certain micronutrients which keeps these nutrients from getting absorbed in the small intestine.

However, the levels of vitamin C absorbed from whole oranges and orange juice remain the same. Drinking orange juice every time is not a good idea as it lacks fibre.

Hence, it is advised to eat the fruit as well as drink orange juice to get the most of the nutrients from the fruit. According to the Journal of Food Science, you can even try a smoothie which retains the fibre from fruits and vegetables along with improving the absorption of various nutrients.

However, as a general rule, it is advised to chew your fruits properly than drinking juices. Include probiotics and prebiotics in diet. It represents a base for new integrative approaches designed to measure the yield of nutritional value relatively to environmental sustainability metrics such as life cycle and circularity assessments with the aim to comprehensively account for the impacts of the food systems on biodiversity, water and energy reserves, as well as on greenhouse gas emissions throughout the food value chain until consumer usage It could help operate a paradigm shift of food industry toward food processing streams guided by nutrient-preservation, minimal processing without negative food safety consequences, reduction of antinutrients and wastes at minimal energy cost and environmental footprint.

The prioritization of bioguided process streams e. available sustainability metrics or scoring systems. sustainability components with no simplistic reduction of the complex, and yet not fully understood, science that governs nutrient bio-accessibility, -availability and -efficacy at cellular and organismal levels.

In an environment of ever-increasing tension between a growing world population and vulnerable supply lines water shortages, geopolitical tension, reduced productivity due to climate warming , nutrient efficiency' concept, which is directly related to the efficient use of nutrient resources, could also be of paramount importance from a nutrient security perspective.

SR created the concept of the paper and wrote the manuscript. CS, YK, SC, MK, and RD have contributed to draft and critically revise the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers.

Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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