Which physiological rationale explains why vitamin production by colonic microbes contributes less to systemic vitamin status than dietary absorption in the small intestine?

• A. The colon actively secretes produced vitamins back into the intestinal lumen to prevent absorption, which is why colon-derived vitamins do not enter systemic circulation.
• B. Most vitamin absorption mechanisms and transporters are located in the small intestine, so vitamins produced in the colon are less likely to be absorbed into the bloodstream and mainly serve local or supplemental roles.
• C. Vitamins cannot be synthesized by microbes in the human gut because biosynthetic genes are absent in colonic bacteria, so any vitamins found there originate solely from dietary intake in the small intestine.
• D. Microbially produced vitamins in the colon are immediately metabolized into gases and excreted, making them irrelevant for host nutrition compared with small intestinal absorption.

Answer: (B)