Ultimately it is not what we eat that makes our composition and health, it is what we absorb. Although nutrition consideration is imperative for good stomach and intestinal health, if problems continue we must look at what we are absorbing and find the path to correction if difficulties lie there.

It really becomes a complex issue to decipher what is going on when the complaints are gas, bloating, fatigue, dry skin, eczema, brittle nails and hair. We tend to throw out the common cure for the common cause but often the problem is much deeper than a deficiency in what we eat. The deficiency may lie in our ability to absorb essential and even nonessential nutrients.

An essential nutrient is one that we must eat. A nonessential nutrient is one that our own body or the flora that lives within it produces.

Absorption deficiency is the cause of some very common problems, especially regarding fats. We may be taking in lots of fats but we are not absorbing them properly.

If you have symptoms that reflect a shortage of fats like mental decline, fatigue, dry skin, declining eyesight, and poor cardiac health then consider the possibility that you are not absorbing your fats correctly. Of course in all cases high quality fats much be chosen as found in olive, grape seed and coconut oil, processed with cold expeller processing.

Lab work and other tests may indicate that you have issues with poor fat absorption. Low triglycerides and cholesterol may be such an indicator. Cholesterol is made from fats and hormones are made from cholesterol so could there in some cases be a link between hormonal deficiencies and their symptoms with poor fat absorption? You bet. Although fecal fat studies are not commonly done these days it may be indicated if you feel that other avenues of treatment with in alternative supplementation protocols and diet have not benefited you.

So what to do if you have poor fat absorption?... well this brings us full circle to the pat and routine answers we offer for digestive issues. In order for absorption of all nutrients to be optimum the GI system must be functioning correctly. Hence comes the diet recommendations and nutritional supplements. In truth, the recommendations are almost the same for everyone baring a genetic disorder or highly acute intestinal problems with significant pain or bleeding. You must have sufficient pancreatic enzymes, sufficient bile, sufficient HCL and sufficient supporting vitamins, enzymes and minerals, including trace, to facilitate proper digestion and absorption. This must be accompanied with a diet that is largely living.. that means fresh and raw food and juice for at least 50% of your meals.

Some nutrients just glide right in almost all circumstances. Others require complex digestive action that the body must provide for adequate breakdown and absorption.

Sometimes extensive lab testing is required to study B vitamins, D3 levels, K levels, albumin and iron. These levels can be indicators of what direction you need to go. In most cases supplementation will be sufficient especially if what goes into the mouth is deficient, but even if the issue is an absorption issue
Large dosages of supplementation may be required to overwhelm the system with what it needs until tissues of the GI tract are healed from their depleted and inflammatory state. Restoration to the enzyme system is essential as well as to the other digestive components such as bile and hydrochloric acid. Supplementation of beneficial floras is required as well as a living and organic diet.

In cases where there is significant inflammation and even bleeding in the digestive tract a prolonged regimen of some kind of anti-inflammatory may be required including serrapeptase and curcumin. Curcumin requires biopeperine or fats with its consumption for optimal absorption. If fats are not being absorbed properly choose biopeperine. Critical cases may require a short duration of a steroid drug. Steroid drugs should not be prescribed lightly and not without due urgency. They should be left behind as soon as possible with serrapeptase intervening even concurrently with a steroid at its initiation so early decrease in the steroid drug can be planned. You will want your steroid protocol to be short lived and serrapeptase and curcumin protocol may be required for a long time, 3 to 6 months, and in some cases longer, including proper supplementations with both nutrients, living foods and herbal formulas.