Phytate, which occurs naturally in raw feed materials, reduces the availability of essential nutrients such as calcium, protein/amino acids, iron and zinc to the animal because it forms complexes with these nutrients in various parts of the digestive tract. The pigs' own enzymes cannot degrade phytate, which in turn increases endogenous losses and further decreases the nutritional value of diet formulations. In addition, young pigs have immature digestive systems which make them particularly susceptible to anti-nutrients like phytate. Research7 showed a significant reduction in growth performance (37%) when piglets were fed a synthetic diet based on casein-corn starch containing added phytate, versus a control diet with no phytate (Figure 1). Daily feed intake was also reduced by 18% and gain to feed ratio by 25%. Similar negative effects of phytate level in the diet on energy and protein/amino acid digestibility in growing pigs have also been shown in earlier research studies8. A high affinity for IP6 - the ability to remove one phosphate group from the intact inositol ring, reducing phytate's anti-nutritional power, is one of several key factors that impact the level of profitability achieved from phytase use.