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How to Absorb More Nutrients- Thomas DeLauerOptimal nutrient absorption -
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Search Search. For example, chewing thoroughly to liquid consistency before swallowing prepares your food for proper digestion and absorption. Similarly, taking bitters or apple cider vinegar can support stomach acid levels.
A diet for better nutrient absorption should be individualized based on identifying specific nutrient deficiencies, gut health issues, and other health needs.
It is also generally helpful for improving absorption and reducing inflammation for most people to eliminate gluten. This is crucial to improve intestinal permeability, inflammation, autoimmunity, and balance in the microbiome to optimize nutrient absorption.
A plant -focused diet based around vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, seeds, herbs, and spices provides plenty of fiber, polyphenols , and a variety of nutrients. Adding in fermented foods like kefir, sauerkraut, kimchi, and live-culture yogurt provides live probiotic cultures that support a diverse intestinal microbiome, providing anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-allergenic properties that can improve digestion, lactose intolerance, and nutrient absorption.
Supporting bile flow from the liver and gallbladder can also help optimize nutrient absorption. Foods like artichokes and bitter greens like dandelion, arugula, and endives help to stimulate bile flow.
For example, phytic and oxalic acids in plant foods can inhibit calcium absorption, but boiling green, leafy vegetables helps reduce oxalate content. To optimize the absorption of nonheme iron , consume foods rich in plant-based iron like whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, dried fruits, and green leafy vegetables with vitamin C.
A key consideration of gut health for optimal digestion revolves around the interplay of gut microbiota and nutrient absorption. Your gut is home to trillions of microorganisms that make up your microbiome. A balanced microbiome plays many key roles in your health, including optimizing the production and absorption of nutrients.
The balance of microbes at each section of your digestive tract significantly impacts your nutrient status by playing essential roles in the biosynthesis and bioavailability of several micronutrients. There is a bidirectional micronutrient—microbiome axis.
The nutrients you consume help to shape the balance of microbes in your gut since they destroy many of these nutrients for growth and survival. In the other direction, your gut microbiota produces significant quantities of a wide range of nutrients.
Your microbiome is especially important for the production of vitamin K and B group vitamins. The microbes in your gut also enhance the absorption of minerals such as iron and calcium. You need the right microbes in your microbiome to assist with the digestion of complex carbohydrates and fibers that you cannot digest on your own.
This helps absorb essential nutrients and produces short-chain fatty acids SCFAs that help maintain a healthy gut, metabolism, and balanced inflammation. You can support a diverse microbiome by eating an anti-inflammatory diet rich in fiber, fermented foods, and prebiotics like asparagus, garlic, and dandelion greens while limiting processed foods, additives, and refined sugars.
In some cases, probiotic supplementation can be added if needed based on stool testing. In some cases, supplements for digestion, like digestive enzymes or bitters, may be necessary to support nutrient absorption and healing.
As discussed above, your body needs enzymes from your gastrointestinal tract and its accessory organs to fully break down and absorb nutrients. Certain health conditions result in insufficiency of some of these digestive enzymes. In these cases, taking exogenous replacement enzymes may be necessary to help your GI tract break down and absorb nutrients.
For example, exocrine pancreatic insufficiency EPI can develop due to cystic fibrosis, autoimmune diseases like Sjogren's syndrome , and pancreatitis , causing the pancreas to produce too few digestive enzymes.
In other cases, a person may have insufficient enzymes needed to digest specific sugars. This can be genetic in conditions like congenital sucrase-isomaltase deficiency or acquired in lactose intolerance caused by acute gastrointestinal infections, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth SIBO , celiac disease, and Crohn's disease.
Environmental and lifestyle factors can also impact digestive enzyme production. Excessive alcohol intake, smoking, and chronic stress can all decrease the production of digestive enzymes.
Depending on your individual needs, digestive enzymes are available in various forms. Individual specific enzymes like lactase can be taken to target a specific deficiency, or multi-enzyme supplementation containing a variety of enzymes such as amylase, lipase, and protease enzymes can work synergistically.
These can be derived from animal sources or come from plants like bromelain from pineapple. Microbe-derived enzymes synthesized from yeasts or fungi are another alternative and generally require lower dosing. Herbs with bitter flavor are also used to support and improve digestion and nutrient absorption.
Digestive bitters like ginger, wormwood, gentian, burdock root, dandelion root, and artichoke leaf are taken in your mouth before eating to stimulate the bitter taste buds. This signals your digestive system to start the process of digestion by producing more saliva, gastric juices, and enzymes to optimize digestion and absorption of your food.
Studies show that stress has many impacts on digestion and nutrient absorption, is related to functional gastrointestinal disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome IBS , and creates imbalances in the gut microbiome. The activation of the sympathetic nervous system during stress contributes to changes in motility or movement in the gastrointestinal tract.
If motility slows, you can have an increased risk of dysbiosis like SIBO. On the other hand, stress can also contribute to increased motility, which impairs nutrient absorption. Stress also increases inflammatory cytokines that damage the intestinal lining and cause impaired nutrient absorption.
Studies also show stress -induced changes in the microbiome that lead to dysbiosis and significantly affect the microbiome's functioning.
You can adapt your lifestyle for better nutrient absorption in several powerful ways. Mindful eating involves your food and mind-body present moment state with a non-judgmental awareness. This approach has been shown to counter digestive disturbances attributed to stress.
Getting adequate restorative sleep is also crucial for digestion and the health of your microbiome. To get at least hours each night, establish a regular sleep routine to go to sleep and wake up at the same time each day and set up your sleep environment to be dark, quiet, and cool.
Exercising regularly but not too intensely is also beneficial for digestion and the microbiome. Incorporating mind-body practices like yoga and tai chi can be especially beneficial for calming the mind and nervous system while getting in movement.
You need the proper balance of nutrients to maintain optimal health and functioning. Your digestive tract allows you to digest and absorb nutrients you consume in food and supplements when it works properly. The small intestine is the primary source of nutrient absorption and depends on help from the mouth, stomach, liver, gallbladder, and pancreas to adequately digest and absorb nutrients.
Health issues that impact these organs, the intestinal surface, the balance of microbes in your gut microbiome , inflammation levels, and more can influence how well you absorb various nutrients. Functional medicine offers a comprehensive multimodal approach to understanding and addressing the underlying factors contributing to poor absorption of nutrients.
This allows for a personalized approach incorporating diet, lifestyle, supplementation, and stress management to optimize nutrient absorption and restore balance.
Barone, M. Gut microbiome—micronutrient interaction: The key to controlling the bioavailability of minerals and vitamins? BioFactors , 48 2 , — Basile, E. Physiology, Nutrient Absorption. gov; StatPearls Publishing. Bek, S. Association between irritable bowel syndrome and micronutrients: A systematic review.
Journal of Gastroenterology and Hepatology , 37 8 , — Blake, K. Anti Inflammatory Diet What to Eat and Avoid Plus Specialty Labs To Monitor Results. Rupa Health. Cherpak, C. Mindful eating: a review of how the stress-digestion-mindfulness triad may modulate and improve gastrointestinal and digestive function.
Cloyd, J. Top Lab Test to Run on Your Iron Deficiency Anemia Patients. A Functional Medicine Protocol for Leaky Gut Syndrome.
How To Test for Lactose Intolerance. Bile Acids Testing, Interpreting, Treatment. How to Heal Your Gut Naturally With Functional Nutrition. What are Digestive Enzymes: How to Test Your Patients Levels. A Functional Medicine Celiac Disease Protocol: Specialty Testing, Nutrition, and Supplements.
The Importance of Comprehensive Stool Testing in Functional Medicine. Macro and Micronutrients Uncovered: Understanding Their Role, Deficiencies, and Clinical Relevance.
Cloyd, K. Gut Microbiome Diversity: The Cornerstone of Immune Resilience. Conner, V. Greenan, S. Constant Burping Is A Sign Of This Harmful Bacterial Overgrowth. Guo, Y. In some cases, taking digestive enzyme supplements may help your body absorb nutrients.
Ideally your supplement will also include botanicals and herbs that further support digestive health, such as fermented, whole-food ingredients like organic black pepper fruit, organic ginger root, turmeric root and apple cider vinegar.
You can take one serving with your heaviest meal to aid with digestion and balance of healthy microflora. This depends on the specific nutrient and how you acquire it for example, pill form versus food form.
Meals that are very high in fiber, protein and fat typically take longer to fully digest and absorb than those high in simple sugars and carbs. As soon as you eat something, digestion starts to take place inside the mouth, and it continues for hours.
Most nutrients will make their way through the stomach and to the small intestine within about 6 to 8 hours of consumption. Most of the absorption happens in that area, while some happens later in the large intestine. How can you improve nutrient absorption?
Jill Levy has been with the Dr. Axe and Ancient Nutrition team for seven years. She completed her undergraduate degree in Psychology from Fairfield University, followed by a certification as a Holistic Health Coach from the Institute for Integrative Nutrition.
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