<em><strong>You Are What You Absorb</strong></em>

With the plethora of information bombarding us from all angles with regard to nutrition, it is confusing to say the least. Unfortunately just eating the "right foods" may not be enough to ensure you are giving your body the vital nutrients it requires for normal healthy function.

Researching the latest super-food and running to the market to stock up on kale and quinoa, does not necessarily mean you will get the reported benefits. The reason for this is simple; just because a nutrient is present in a particular food, does not mean your body has the ability to absorb, and utilize it.

[caption id="attachment_248" align="aligncenter" width="704"]<img class="size-full wp-image-248" src="https://cooklab.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/almond-butter-quinoa.jpg" alt="" width="704" height="396" /> via SBS.com.au[/caption]

Why is that I hear you ask. To gain a better understanding of what is good for us, we need to look at how the body absorbs the nutrition you get from food. The human digestive system is an incredible, but complex system. It not only needs to have the right nutrients available through good diet, it needs to be able to break them down into a form that can be used.

The ability of your body to absorb, and use a particular nutrient from food is known as; <a href="https://www.globalhealingcenter.com/natural-health/what-is-bioavailability/">bioavailability</a>. In simple terms, if you read that quinoa contains all the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/biochemistry-genetics-and-molecular-biology/essential-amino-acids">essential amino acids</a> (required from diet), the question becomes, can they be broken down and passed into the blood through the digestive system? Can they be used by the body as they are needed? In the case of essential amino acids, this means building muscle tissue and repairing cells among other things.

This is where science comes in. The presence or absence of nutrients can be tested in a laboratory and the results can be reported as fact, quinoa does in fact, contain all nine essential amino acids. However, if they have not been tested to prove they are bioavailable, then it becomes more challenging to understand their nutritional value in the diet. Whilst eating whole grains is invariably good for you from a nutrition and fibre perspective, if you are relying on a particular food as a source of a nutrient, understanding its bioavailability in the body becomes very important.

It is common to think, and rightly so, that when you eat a food, every part of it is absorbed and used by the body. However as we now understand that is not the case. Combination of foods, alcohol, drugs and health issues all have the ability to impact the absorption of nutrients by the body. As every individual is different due to the uniqueness of our diets, health status and genetics, it is impossible to definitively predict how any food is utilised once consumed. Generally speaking though, rigorous bioavailability testing gives us a much better understanding of a particular foods nutritional value, and the findings hold true for most people.

For this reason, the next time your newsfeed tells you to pack as much of the next big super-food into your work lunches, stop and look for scientific studies that show whether it is bioavailable, preferably ones that have been published in peer-reviewed papers. Luckily the beloved quinoa seed, once only found high up in the Andes Mountains and trendy cafes, but now as common as couscous, has been tested and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1546052">proven to be a good bioavailable</a> dietary source of essential amino acids.

Happy eating (and absorbing)!

<strong><em>Kylie </em></strong>