My answer to Does taking vitamin supplements weaken body's ability to absorb/create them from food or natural sourc…
Answer by Connie b. Dellobuono:
As we age, we absorb less of the nutrients that we need. Our gut flora must be healthy to absorb all the nutrients from foods/supplements.
Let us take for an example of some drugs or meds that we take. Let us say we are taking TUMS, the un-absorbed calcium in it (free calcium) blocks our body to absorb the real calcium from food and supplements, the absorbable ones.
Another example is iron that cancels calcium absorption and vice versa. So we eat iron rich food in the morning and calcium rich foods in the evening/afternoon. Or take our iron liquid supplement (Fluradix) in the morning and calcium/magnesium/Vit D/C in the evening.
And that most chemical process in the body is facilitated by the presence of Vitamin C and some enzymes.