Bioavailability of dietary urea nitrogen in the infant

Because the human body has no enzymes capable of hydrolyzing urea, nitrogen from this source becomes bioavailable only by release of ammonia from urea by bacterial hydrolysis in the intestines, with subsequent absorption and utilization of ammonia. To explore extent to which urea ingested in milk becomes bioavailable, we fed di-15N-urea (both nitrogen atoms in the form of the stable isotope 15N) and determined urinary excretion of di-15N-urea (excreted without having become bioavailable) and mono-15N-urea (urea containing only one atom of 15N and therefore reflecting excretion of absorbed ammonia). The largest percentage of the ingested di-15N-urea was excreted promptly in the urine still in the form of di-15N-urea. We conclude that most of the urea ingested by a normal infant is not bioavailable.