The explosion of information published these days in the primary research literature represents in some ways a substantial barrier to the new investigator or researcher crossing over traditional boundaries between fields. Commonly held beliefs and practices of the field's cognoscente often are poorly understood or appreciated by researchers even in closely related areas. Although review articles offer some relief from this situation, a more complete overview of a subject can often only be had through the forum of a book. The desire to better understand factors influencing mineral absorption in the intestines provided the impetus for us to organize the symposium Mineral Absorption in the Monogastric GI Tract: Chemical, Nutritional and Physiological Aspects, held June 9-10, 1988 in Toronto, Canada, as part of the 195th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society and the Third North American Chemical Congress. The criteria for inviting participants was that they be currently active in research pertinent to mineral absorption, be publishing results of their investigations and willing to participate in a forum designed to present diverse considerations of mineral absorption to a multidisciplinary audience. The individual chapters are mixtures of reviews and original research.

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Section I. Mechanisms of Mineral Absorption.- 1. Theoretical and Practical Aspects of Zinc Uptake and Absorption.- 2. Zinc Absorption in Humans Determined Using In Vivo Tracer Studies and Kinetic Analysis.- 3. Mechanisms of Intestinal Brush Border Iron Transport.- 4. Trace Metal Interactions Involving the Intestinal Absorption Mechanisms of Iron and Zinc.- 5. On the Molecular Mechanisms of Intestinal Calcium Transport.- 6. Equilibration Constants for the Complexation of Metal Ions by Serum Transferrin.- Section II. Dietary Influences on Mineral Uptake.- 7. Protein Digestion and the Absorption of Mineral Elements.- 8. The Effect of Dietary Proteins on Iron Bioavailability in Man.- 9. Effect of Gastrointestinal Conditions on the Mineral-Binding Properties of Dietary Fibers.- 10. In Vivo Mineral Contents of Dietary Fiber Determined by EDX Analysis.- 11. Phytic Acid Interactions with Divalent Cations in Foods and in the Gastrointestinal Tract.- 12. Low Gastric Hydrochloric Acid Secretion and Mineral Bioavailability.- 13. Effect of Age and the Milk Sugar Lactose on Calcium Absorption by the Small Intestine.- 14. Dietary Fiber or Bile-Sequestrant Ingestion and Divalent Cation Metabolism.