Dietary Fat
Forms the micelles that carry the fat-soluble vitamins across the gut wall. Without fat in the meal, A, D, E, K and the carotenoids largely pass through.
Relationships
5 connectionsDietary Fat enhances absorption of
Beta-Carotene
Plant pigment the body converts to retinol as needed. Conversion is inefficient and varies a lot between people, and it needs fat in the meal to be absorbed at all.
Vitamin A
Needed for vision, immune function and steroidogenesis. Measured two ways in the food data, as retinol activity equivalents and as international units.
Vitamin D
Acts as a hormone rather than a classical vitamin. Governs calcium absorption and a wide set of immune genes.
Vitamin E
Chain-breaking antioxidant inside cell membranes. Regenerated by vitamin C after it does its job.
Vitamin K
Activates the proteins that clot blood and the ones that steer calcium into bone.