No, the intrinsic body diode will NOT absorb the inductive spike. It does NOT protect the MOSFET. It is NOT a protective feature, it is a side effect of the way that type of high power MOSFET is constructed.
For instance, with a low side MOSFET driving a relay or solenoid:
When the MOSFET shuts off, current in the coil keeps going the same direction. So polarity across the coil reverses. The voltage at the Drain of the MOSFET rises until something breaks over - the MOSFET maximum Drain to Source voltage is exceeded, or a spark jumps across the coil.
With a diode across the coil, that current just goes through the diode as soon as the voltage reverses enough to forward bias the diode.
The Significance of the Intrinsic Body Diodes Inside MOSFETs
