The rate of absorption of nutrients from the gut is not constant, but rather fluctuates greatly with food intake.
Meals are digested at a rate dependent on their chemical composition, regardless of the animal’s nutrient needs. The nature of digestion dictates that nutrient absorption from the gut is rapid during digestion and then ceases during interdigestive periods.
In other words, the gut is not a storehouse for nutrients, and digestion is not modulated by the animal’s nutritional demands. Nutrient needs are not well matched to the wide fluctuations that occur in nutrient absorption from the gut. In fact, a vital need exists for a constant, steady supply of fuel-providing nutrients to maintain the basal metabolic functions of the body. In addition, the periods when the animal’s metabolic needs are greatly elevated often do not coincide with times of rapid absorption of nutrients from the gut. Therefore, animals must have a sophisticated system for maintaining the supply of nutrients, particularly energy-supplying nutrients, and buffering both the short-term and the long-term tTeast or famine” effects associated with the absorptive and post- absorptive periods of digestion.
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