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The small intestine is a long, highly convoluted tube in the digestive system that absorbs about 90% of the nutrients from the food we eat. It is given the name âsmall intestineâ because it is only 1 inch in diameter, making it less than half the diameter of the large intestine.
Intestinal absorption of water is a passive process and requires movement of solutes. Water accompanies solute and moves across the intestinal mucosa in response to osmotic gradients. The rate of water uptake in any region of the intestine is a function of solute absorption in this region.ite: Calcium is absorbed from the duodenum and upper jejunum primarily by an active vitamin D-dependent transcellular process; in the ileum, the predominant process is passive vitamin D-independent, paracellular diffusion. Absorption of Ca ++ in the ileum is about one-third as rapid in the upper small intestine.