Food factors and gastrointestinal function: A critical interface

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Abstract
The gastrointestinal tract (GIT) is an interface between the external environment and the body and functions to extract nutrients from foods as well as handle the various non‐nutrient compounds found in foods. Thus factors in foods that affect health and disease may mediate their effects either through a direct effect on the GIT or indirectly by the pattern of absorption and subsequent metabolism through the GIT. To explore this relationship one must consider both the physiological responses of the GIT induced by factors in foods as well as the implications of GIT adaptation for metabolism. Metabolic adaptations to dietary factors such as cholesterol levels, glucose and insulin response, and immune function appear to be modulated by the manner in which food factors are metabolized in the GIT. New research is needed to understand the inter‐relationship between food factors that stimulate GIT response and the subsequent influence on metabolism that influences risk factors for disease and health promotion.

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