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From absorption and excretion of minerals...to the importance of bioavailability and adaptation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 August 2018

Susan J. Fairweather-Tait
Susan J. Fairweather-Tait*
Affiliation:
Institute of Food Research, Norwich Research Park, Colney, Norwich NR4 7UA
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It was nearly 120 years ago that the physiologist Claude Bernard proposed that for an organism to function optimally the component cells must be surrounded by a medium of closely regulated composition (‘La fixité du milieu interne est la condition de la vie libre’). Homeostasis is the term used today to describe this phenomenon, being first coined by Walter B. Cannon in 1929 (Hardy, 1976). This is the underlying physiological principle that explains the relative chemical constancy of the body, including inorganic nutrients such as Fe.

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