To absorb vitamin B12 and most nutrients the food we eat must be digested. This is important as in vitamin B12’s case in certain disease states and as we age this is affected such that we become deficient. Also, vitamin D3 boosts its absorption. As vitamin B12 is a very important vitamin and one of the many that if most are not deficient, they are suffering from low levels of it. In these next 4 posts I will discuss the way food is processed in our bodies. This is important in the absorption of the important components like vitamin B12. I will also discuss how vitamin B12 is also more complex then you may think and how vitamin D3 effects its absorption.
To start with, I will explain how the mouth, stomach and intestines work in a tiered way. To convert what we ingest, solids and liquids into substances we can absorb. Substances to fuel and nourish our body. The process starts in the mouth. Here our teeth break the solid food into smaller parts and allowing as much surface area as possible. The greater the surface area the more enzymes in the saliva can interact with the food nutrients. Thus, through a combination of chemical and mechanical processes increasing the surface area. Also, the immune system starts effecting what viruses, bacteria and fungus for example, lets call them organisms from now on, survives the trip.
Then the food enters the stomach, with increased surface area of the food allowing the stomachs acid to work. The stomach uses acid to kill most of the organisms we ingest. Perhaps not to eliminate them but to knock them down to manageable numbers such that if harmful the other areas of the intestines can eliminate them and if useful promote their growth. As I have written in earlier posts 70 or so percent of the immune system is in the alimentary tract and vitamin D3 has a profound effect on the immune system. Again, the immune system having further effect here. This helping to determine what organisms makes it to and flourishes in the GI tract. Particularly in the large intestine.
If a helpful organism, then enough survives that in the other areas of the intestines they will flourish. The stomach also, think mixing bowl with blender, further mechanically breaks down the food. Allowing the saliva’s and new enzymes and antibodies from stomach and gallbladder, as well as acids to work better. This continues the conversion of foods into its individual smallest molecules that are still useful like sugars, fats and proteins as well as vitamins, minerals and important chemicals. So, they are small enough that we can absorb what is needed in our body through the cells and cellular gaps in the intestines. Also reducing harmful organism numbers.
*The information posted above is for educational purposes only. Always check with your doctor before initiating any changes in your medical treatment. If you do not, then The Two-Minute Health Fact, Dr. Judson Somerville, nor The Optimal Dose is responsible!
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