The Honest Truth: What Your Body Actually Absorbs.

The Honest Truth: What Your Body Actually Absorbs
-Insights from the Chief Curator -

You can eat all the healthy food in the world, but your body doesn't magically absorb 100% of the vitamins and minerals. The real game-changer in wellness isn't just what you eat, but how much of it your body can actually use.

We're here to make wellness easier by explaining the simple steps. Let’s look at the fascinating process that takes your meal and turns it into energy and health.

1. The Journey Inside: How Food Becomes Fuel

Your digestive system is a sophisticated assembly line that breaks food down so your body can access the good stuff.

Digestion

This is the breakdown phase—chewing, stomach acid, and enzymes chemically split food into its tiny, absorbable components.

Protein becomes Amino Acids.
Fats become Fatty Acids (and glycerol).
Carbs become Simple Sugars (like glucose).

Waste Elimination:

Anything your body can't use—mostly dietary fiber—moves to the large intestine and is eliminated. Fiber is crucial for digestive health, even though it isn't absorbed!

Crucially, any excess absorbed nutrients or supplements are processed by your Kidneys. The kidneys filter your blood, keeping what you need and sending the excess (mostly water-soluble vitamins and minerals) out of the body as urine. This system acts as a safety valve, but it's always smart to follow recommended serving sizes.

Absorption (The Main Event)

Over 90% of the nutrients and water you consume are absorbed through the walls of your small intestine. These tiny parts pass into your bloodstream to be delivered throughout your body for energy, growth, and repair.

2. Bioavailability: The Wellness Shortcut Word

When experts talk about absorption, they use the term Bioavailability.

Bioavailability is simply the amount of a nutrient your body can successfully take in and actually put to work.

Good News for the Basics: Your body is highly efficient at absorbing the large nutrients (Carbs, Fats, Protein), usually absorbing over 90% of them.
The Micronutrient Challenge: The absorption rate for Vitamins and Minerals (Micronutrients) can be tricky, sometimes as low as 3–10%. This is why you need to know the factors that affect absorption.

3. Your Action Plan: How to Boost Absorption

This is where you gain control! By combining certain foods or preparing them in specific ways, you can become a friendly expert in nutrient pairing.

Nutrient Teammates
(Enhancers)
Factor

What it Means for You

(The Practical Outcome)

Some pairings help each other get absorbed better.

Expert Tip for the Wellness Explorer

Always have Vitamin C (like a splash of lemon or bell peppers) with plant-based Iron (like beans or lentils) to boost iron absorption.

The FatRule
Factor

What it Means for You

(The Practical Outcome)

Vitamins A, D, E, and K must have fat to enter your body.

Expert Tip for the Wellness Explorer

Eat your fat-soluble vitamins (like Vitamin D or carrot sticks) with a healthy fat source (like olive oil, avocado, or nuts).

The Binder Blockers (Inhibitors)
Factor

What it Means for You

(The Practical Outcome)

Certain compounds naturally found in plants can block mineral absorption.

Expert Tip for the Wellness Explorer

To improve mineral absorption, try soaking beans or lightly cooking greens like spinach (which contain oxalates and phytates).

Your Gut Health
Factor

What it Means for You

(The Practical Outcome)

A healthy gut lining is the highway for all absorbed nutrients.

Expert Tip for the Wellness Explorer

Focus on gut health foundations—probiotics and fiber—to ensure your absorption system is running smoothly. Malabsorption can happen when the gut is irritated (e.g., Celiac, IBD).

4. The Pitfall of 'More is Better': When Supplements Become Too Much

In the world of wellness, there's a tempting belief that if a little is good, a lot must be better. However, when it comes to supplements, that simply isn't true. Aggressively exceeding dosage limits can move from being beneficial to being actively harmful.

The Danger of Over-Supplementation (Toxicity)

While your kidneys eliminate excess water-soluble vitamins easily, your body stores fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K). Taking extremely high doses of these can lead to a dangerous buildup over time, known as hypervitaminosis, causing serious health issues.
Minerals like iron and zinc can also be toxic in excess. High doses can lead to organ damage or digestive distress, and even interfere with the absorption of other essential nutrients (e.g., too much zinc blocks copper).

Stress on Your Internal Filters

Every supplement you take must be processed. Chronic, high-dose supplementation puts an increased burden on your liver and kidneys. These vital organs are not designed to handle a continuous flood of mega-doses, which can compromise their health and efficiency over time.

The Simple Truth: You're Wasting Money

For many common high-dose supplements, you are simply paying for expensive urine. Once your body reaches its saturation point for a water-soluble nutrient, any extra is immediately tagged for elimination. Stick to the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) unless specifically directed otherwise by your healthcare provider.

Conclusion: Your Next Step to Confident Wellness

You started by asking a basic question about what your body absorbs, and now you have the simple keys to smarter wellness. No more feeling lost!

Remember this simple promise: Wellness shouldn't be confusing, and you don't need a complicated plan to feel better.

By focusing on small, practical steps like pairing Vitamin C with iron and prioritizing your gut health, you are actively increasing the power of every healthy meal you eat.

We guide people from their first wellness question to confident, everyday habits—because we research and recommend only what works, making wellness easier for you.

Start today: Look at your next meal and try one simple pairing.

That's all it takes to build a confident, healthier you.

Resources:

I. Foundational Concept: Bioavailability

The definition and general statement that absorption is complex and varies greatly.

MSU Extension. (2018, January 30). Are you absorbing the nutrients you eat? Retrieved from https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/are_you_absorbing_the_nutrients_you_eat

II. Nutrient Pairing (Vitamin C & Iron)

The concept that Vitamin C enhances the absorption of non-heme iron.

ResearchGate. (2025). Using Vitamin C with iron: Enhancing absorption and other benefits. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/387401005_Using_Vitamin_C_with_Iron_Enhancing_Absorption_and_Other_Benefits

III. The Fat Rule (Vitamins A, D, E, K)

The rule that fat-soluble vitamins require dietary fat for proper absorption.

MedlinePlus. (2020, October 23). Vitamins. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved from https://medlineplus.gov/ency/article/002399.htm

IV. Binder Blockers (Phytates & Oxalates)

The statement that compounds in plants can block mineral absorption and that cooking/soaking reduces this effect.

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. (n.d.). Are anti-nutrients harmful? The Nutrition Source. Retrieved from https://nutritionsource.hsph.harvard.edu/anti-nutrients/

V. Gut Health

The importance of the gut microbiome and digestive health for nutrient utilization.

Stuck, R. (n.d.). Gut health and nutrient absorption. Ixcela. Retrieved from https://ixcela.com/resources/gut-health-and-nutrient-absorption.html

VI. Over-Supplementation and Toxicity

BrainMD. (n.d.). The honest truth: What your body actually absorbs. BrainMD. https://brainmd.com/blog/what-is-bioavailability/

The Honest Truth: What Your Body Actually Absorbs.