Uses of Stable Isotopes in the Assessment of Nutrient Status and Metabolism

Abstract

Stable isotopes are nonradioactive and can be safely administered to humans; yet, because of the isotopic difference, can be distinguished from the unlabeled moiety and thus trace the nutrient uptake and elimination. Stable isotope applications include measurement of nutrient absorption, determination of nutrient body stores, tracing routes of nutrient metabolism, measuring nutrient fluxes through specific pathways, and measuring nutrient elimination. The ability to assess the dynamics of nutrient metabolism in vivo has been vital in the study of nutrient requirements, nutrient metabolism, mechanisms of nutrient homeostasis, and nutrient toxicity. Stable isotopes provide a window into human metabolism that is particularly valuable to the quantitative study of human nutrition.