The feed we give to our pigs contains several key types of nutrients such as proteins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals and vitamins. Of these, proteins, fats and carbohydrates are large complex molecules that are too big to be transferred from the intestines and across the intestinal wall for use in the body. If the pig is to make use of these substances it must break them down in its intestine into much smaller molecules. This process is known as digestion and the process by which the resulting smaller molecules are transferred across the intestinal wall and into the body is known as absorption. In the digestion process carbohydrates are broken down into simple sugars, protein into amino acids and fats into glycerides and free fatty acids. These breakdown products of digestion become the post absorption building blocks from which the proteins, fats and carbohydrates that the body needs can then be constructed.
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