ABSTRACT
Absorption is the process by which simple nutrient components resulting from digestion, or in some cases, ingestion alone, move out of the digestive tract into the absorptive cells and from there are sent to the bloodstream or, to a lesser extent, the lymphatic system. Some of the steps in the absorptive process require a speci‘c metabolic activity to facilitate or enhance the absorption. Ultimately, this metabolic activity can also in•uence the bioavailability of certain absorbed nutrients. For example, as has been discussed, once in the mucosal cell, part of the amino acid chelate may be hydrolyzed before transferring any of its components or the remaining intact chelate or chelate/complex molecules into the plasma. Following hydrolyzation, the released metal ion is able to participate in several metabolic activities that it is excluded from being involved in while still in the amino acid chelate state. While those metabolic activities could be considered to be part of this particular bioavailability process, for the purposes of this discussion they are included in the absorptive process only. Thus, based on this, absorption is not the same as bioavailability.
