GLOSSARY

Portal Circulation carries digestive-organ blood to liver before systemic circulation, distinct from lymphatic lipid transport.

Simple sugars and many amino acids reach the liver first through portal blood; much packaged lipid travels through lymph. A lacteal is a lymph vessel within a villus, not an enzyme or special food. Both routes later connect with systemic circulation. Peripheral nutrient appearance also depends on first-pass handling and tissue removal, not merely intestinal passage speed or the amount swallowed in one serving.

After entering enterocytes, lipid products undergo re-esterification and packaging. Triglyceride resynthesis is not the same direction as digestion. Chylomicrons are lipoprotein particles carrying many long-chain dietary lipids through lymph toward circulation. Not every fatty acid follows this route: chain length and chemical form influence handling. The existence of a reconstruction step does not mean dietary fat was never digested or cannot be absorbed efficiently.

Digestion breaks food into smaller absorbable components; absorption moves them across the gastrointestinal barrier into the body. Transport, storage and tissue use follow. These steps are connected but distinct. For an athlete, a large amount printed on a label establishes intake, not necessarily rapid delivery to muscle or the final amount used. Avoid treating digestion, uptake and performance as interchangeable outcomes.