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Perhaps a rhetorical question but could someone have malabsorption problems (and be deficient in minerals and vitamins) when taking supplements / powders do work?
Hi all,
Perhaps a rhetorical question but could someone have malabsorption problems (and be deficient in minerals and vitamins) when taking supplements / powders do work?
Thanks!
I wondered why someone could have a malabsorption problem (due low stomach acid) but at the same time he/she is absorbing supplements properly. So this way you could say that stomach acid is not needed to let supplements work?
Thanks all!
Sorry for the late respons (due holidays) and unclear question.
I know about low stomach acid and problems with absorbing nutrients properly.
I wondered why someone could have a malabsorption problem (due low stomach acid) but at the same time he/she is absorbing supplements properly. So this way you could say that stomach acid is not needed to let supplements work?
Hopefully that makes it more clearly.
I don't think that supplements could be absorbed without stomach acid. So you must have some stomach acid, maybe more than you think?
And as @pamojja said, you would be in serious trouble without stomach acid.
The strange thing is I have malabsorption and yet pretty much everything I've taken generally shows up in my tests, blood serum, hair etc, so it's still being absorbed despite chronic gut issues.
Like the zinc serum reading increases but not plasma, I assumed meant it's being absorbed in the gut just not getting into the cells?
My serum and hair zinc increases with only 7mg of zinc but plasma doesn't change at all (is whole blood and red blood cell the same to you?). I think plasma zinc is rbc or similar.
Whole blood is RBC plus plasma, and seems a good substitute where RBC isn't available, since it tests all fractions of the blood. By the way, serum only contains 1-2%, but erytrocytes about 84% of all zinc. And elevated zinc in hair most often means deficiency in the body.
- Serum is the undiluted, extracellular portion of blood after adequate coagulation is complete.
- Plasma is a clear, straw-colored watery portion of the blood in which several types of blood cells are suspended.
Do you know the cofactors needed to get zinc into cells?
Zinc Synergists: Magnesium, chromium, cobalt, tin, Vitamin B2, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, [Vitamin A - small amounts]*.
Zinc Antagonists / Inhibitors: Iron, calcium, phosphorus, selenium, sodium, nickel, copper, Vitamin B1, Vitamin C, niacin / niacinamide, folic acid, choline, lecithin, alcohol, phytic acid, oxalic acid, [Vitamin A - large amounts]*.
Note: Calcium is a zinc antagonist at low, or normal phosphorus levels. However, with high phosphorus levels, extra calcium may be required to reduce zinc loss by helping to lower elevated phosphorus levels. This can also be accomplished by adding Vitamin B5.