A Healthy U - Independent Associate

You aren’t what you eat. But you are what your body absorbs. That’s because all of your food isn’t used by your body. And if you don’t absorb the nutrients in your food, they do no good for your cells, muscles, brain, and more.

But how are nutrients absorbed by the body? The simple version of this process has five components:

1. Chewing and the introduction of enzymes in your mouth
2. Churning and mixing with acid (gastric juice) in your stomach
3. Contact and absorption in your small intestine—your nutrient absorption center
4. Entrance into the bloodstream
5. Carrier proteins bringing nutrients into your cells

But the journey is much more interesting and complex. A lot goes on behind the scenes to get the good stuff in your meal to enter the bloodstream.

So, follow along as the vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats in your food make their way into your cells. And learn how you can help your body continue healthy nutrient absorption.

Your Guide to How Nutrients are Absorbed by the Body - Ask The Scientists Follow the vitamins and minerals in your food through digestion and learn how nutrients are absorbed by the body.

Your body is like a complicated and busy machine. When all systems and internal mechanisms work together, your body (from the skin and bone structure to the cardiovascular and central nervous system) can perform at its best. But like machines, your body’s natural aging process will begin to affect many systems.

As the body's natural defense system, the natural aging of the aging immune system has a greater impact on the whole body than any other system. Your immune system degenerates naturally over time, a process called immune aging. Although immunosenescence is defined as the effect of age on immune function, it is actually a process just like your immune system, and it is caused by many smaller parts of work (or lack of work).

To clearly explain the changes in immune health with age, we need to briefly summarize your immune system.

The Impact of Age on Your Immune Function - Ask The Scientists Explore immunosenescence, or how aging affects your immune function. And learn to support your aging immune system.

FRIDAY | October 23