Addressing Bioavailability & Digestibility

To provide health benefits, a nutrient in food must be digested and utilized by the body. In other words, the food must be digestible and the nutrient must be bioavailable. The December 2010 Food Safety & Quality column, “Simulating Digestion,” in Food Technology discussed the design and use of artificial human gastrointestinal tracts, and the January 2011 column, “Measuring Encapsulation Efficacy,” discussed encapsulation as a means of protecting or maintaining the bioavailability of compou…