The foods we eat do not entirely control our nutrition; it’s also what our body does with what we eat. In his book Whole, T. Colin Campbell, one of the world’s leading nutrition experts, says there is little direct relationship between the amount of a nutrient consumed at a meal and the amount that actually will be absorbed and utilized by the body. Within limits, it depends on what the body needs at that moment. Scientists call this bioavailability.

Think about the elegance of this - the body will only absorb and distribute what it needs to our tissues and cells, nothing more nothing less, and this “need” is constantly sensed by the body. According to Dr. Campbell, when you eat a carrot, the proportion converted to vitamin A can vary as much as 8-fold depending on the deficiency in your body at the time. The same is true for calcium, iron and practically every nutrient. The amount used by our body is not a linear relationship. Overloading our bodies with a vitamin C pill or even a massive number of oranges may not mean our body absorbs all of the vitamin C. Disproportional nutrient consumption or nutrient overload (even the good ones) can be toxic, so your body has elegantly ensured there is balance. Slow and steady nutrition boosts wins the race. Nourish throughout the day - based on your physical exercise, based on your stress, based on your exposure to toxins, allergens, bacteria and viruses. And as we will uncover in the next blog, absorption depends also on the presence of other macro and micronutrients. Our body prefers whole, real foods, not synthetic forms of vitamins.