Although introduction of amino acid chelates in mineral nutrition initially met considerable skepticism and controversy, the greater absorption and bioavailability of amino acid chelated minerals compared to nonchelated minerals have been well-documented for decades. Amino Acid Chelation in Human and Animal Nutrition compiles published chemical, nutritional, and clinical studies with new unpublished research. It interprets the combined data for the first time to explain why the body responds to an amino acid chelate differently than it does to inorganic metal salts. Focusing on digestion, the book follows how chelates are absorbed from the stomach and intestines into the mucosal tissue, their movement from the mucosal tissue into the blood, and uptake into tissue and organ cells. Amino Acid Chelation in Human and Animal Nutrition compares amino acid chelate absorption and metabolism and that of inorganic salts of the same minerals. This book mainly focuses on the ingestion of amino acid metal chelates as a way to optimize mineral absorption, but it also provides a fundamental discussion of chelation chemistry. The author includes his own results, as well as alternate interpretations of the results of numerous studies of animal and human amino acid mineral chelate digestion and absorption. The views published in this book are solely the author's views and do not reflect the views of his company, Albion Laboratories.