The total pool of bile salts present in the body is not sufficient to fully process the fats in a typical meal, thus bile salts need to be recycled. This is achieved by the enterohepatic circulation. Specific transporters in the terminal ileum move bile salts from the lumen of the digestive tract to the intestinal capillaries. They are then transported directly to the liver via the hepatic portal vein. Hepatocytes take up bile salts from the blood, and increase the secretion of bile salts into the bile canaliculi, small passageways that convey bile into the larger bile ducts. 95% of the bile that is released to the small intestine is recycled via the enterohepatic circulation,while 5% of the bile salts are lost in the feces.