The net portal appearance approach – a tool to monitor the real-time bioavailability of nutrients in pigs

Abstract

Among the available approaches to study the bioavailability of nutrients, both the body deposition and the intestinal balance methods have technical and analytical particularities that make them inconsistent to study the bioavailability of trace elements. This study describes an approach that allows assessing the net postintestinal bioavailability of trace elements. This approach is based on the real-time fluxes of nutrients flowing in the portal vein. In contrast with other methods, this technique allows monitoring the real-time postmeal profile of net fluxes of nutrients in order to compare multiple types of meal treatments within the same animal.