I developed Absorb Plus for Imix Nutrition in 1998 after developing my own Elemental Shake formula which I used to heal myself from a severe intestinal bleed caused by mercury poisoning. My hemoglobin was 2/14, I weighed 99 pounds (I’m 5’7″), but within 6 weeks of just taking my Elemental shake, bone broths, and supplements, I weighed 136 pounds and was riding my bike to the gym three times a week to work out. Six weeks later I was pregnant. The healing was nothing short of a miracle! My regimen is detailed in my book “The IBD Remission Diet.”
At the time, both the head of gastroenterology at Vancouver General Hospital and a friend who is a medical geneticist (who was also diagnosed with Crohn’s disease) told me that elemental or polymeric shakes were absorbed into the bloodstream within 20 minutes. Therefore, they were not recommended for diabetics because the absorption was too rapid. I didn’t question her claim.
But recently a reader emailed asking how this absorption rate was determined. So I started looking and couldn’t find a clear parameter in the scientific literature. In fact, digestion and absorption seem to be very complicated. As you can see from this first article, “absorption” is assessed based on numerous parameters:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/089990079500016X?via%3Dihub
Intake of fat also affects digestion/absorption time, but since Absorb Plus contains no added fat (you add your own fat according to the tolerance limit), this is not taken into account when Imix states “within 20 minutes”.
As with vitamin C, the slower you drink it, the better the absorption – so Imix recommends people drink the shakes slowly. I formulated Absorb Plus to contain approximately 27 grams of protein per serving and based this calculation on bodybuilders’ protein intake. Because if you consume more proteins than your body can use, it will excrete it through urine. For efficient protein utilization, it is therefore recommended not to take more than 1 shake per hour.
Additionally, Absorb Plus is available in both whey isolate and vegan versions (what are the digestion/absorption rates of whey isolate compared to sprouted brown rice isolate?) and will soon also be available in an amino acid-free version, which is likely to have the fastest absorption.
This first article will give you an idea of how to assess absorption using osmolality – and then how to test for tolerance and malabsorption:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3099002/
This second article details how to assess osmolality:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9570264/
And this is about assessing “the quality and composition of each enteral formula in great detail, since the basic components are responsible for the tolerability and effectiveness of the diet”:
https://aspenjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1177/0884533617724759
We previously thought that Absorb Plus was not ideal for diabetics due to its rapid absorption rate – and some people experience a rapid heart rate after taking it – but subsequent data has shown that whey-based elemental formulas are actually beneficial for diabetics.
Glucose management in the intensive care unit: The evolving role of nutrition
Todd Rice MD, MSc
Hyperglycemia is common in the intensive care unit and is associated with poor outcomes. The traditional treatment is insulin, but its use increases the risk of hypoglycemia. New evidence suggests that use of a high-protein, hypocaloric enteral formula containing nutrients that have insulinotropic properties may help with glycemic control and reduce the frequency of insulin administration.
And
Nutritional management of blood glucose in medically critically ill overweight and obese patients: An open-label, randomized trial
Rice T, Clark Files D, Morris PE, Bernard A, Ziegler T, Drover JU, Kress J, Hamm K, Grathwohl D, Huhmann M, Ochoa Gautier J. Journal of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition. DOI:10.1002/jpen.1447.
Hyperglycemia is common in the intensive care unit and is associated with poor outcomes. Use of an enteral feeding formula containing very high protein (37%), enzymatically hydrolyzed 100% whey protein, and low CHO (29%) was associated with a reduction in hyperglycemic events and lower insulin administration in critically ill overweight/obese ICU patients.
This was confirmed when my own father, 84 years old, smoker, diabetic, triple bypass heart disease, developed pancreatitis after the C vaccination. The ONLY food he was able to eat was Absorb Plus and my MD brother credits it with saving his life. But interestingly, my dad said that his blood sugar went down while taking Absorb Plus (he did daily tests). We have heard similar stories from some of my readers. Remember that nutritional data and clinical studies are constantly providing new information – but your body always knows the truth.
Oh, and I have another story from you about a person with terminal AIDS. But they didn’t die directly from immune deficiency, but from malnutrition. Because no matter what they ate, they threw it up within an hour. Well, when they started taking Absorb Plus, it didn’t matter that they were vomiting within an hour because the nutrients were already in their bloodstream. They began to gain weight and thereby become healthier. The vomiting stopped and they were on the road to recovery.
I hope this all gives you a better understanding of the topic. If you find a reference that gives us an actual absorption time for enteral/elemental formulas, please let me know!
And read my recent post on how to make your own elemental or easy-to-digest shakes.
Jini Patel Thompson is an internationally recognized expert in natural healing for digestive diseases. She healed herself from widespread Crohn’s disease and has been medication and surgery free for over 25 years. Jini has appeared on numerous podcasts, TV and radio shows in the US, UK, Canada and Australia, giving people hope and vision on how to heal their colitis, Crohn’s disease, diverticulitis and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) using all-natural methods. Her books on natural healing of digestive diseases have been sold in over 80 countries worldwide. Jini is married and has three children, nine sheep, 11 horses, a cat and three dogs.
