Calcium Bioavailability of Textured Vegetable Protein Fortified With Calcium

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to increase the calcium (Ca) content of textured vegetable protein (TVP) by fortifying with 0.4% calcium carbonate or 0.3% calcium chloride and to compare the calcium bioavailability using rats. The calcium bioavailability was determined in terms of the calcium retention, absorption and intake in the bone and serum levels of phosphorus and alkaline phosphatase. A control diet (casein) and three experimental diets were prepared TVP, TVP + 0.4% CaCO3, TVP + 0.3% CaCl2. The experimental animals were screened every 4, 8 and 12 wk for observed changes in growth and in the circulating levels of Ca, phosphorus (P) and alkaline phosphatase. The results at 8 wk showed that Ca retention and Ca absorption were 42.22 ± 6.47 and 44.37 ± 5.97 mg.d-1 in the TVP + 0.4% CaCO3 group. This was signifi cantly higher than in the TVP and TVP + 0.3% CaCl2 groups, which were 23.12 ± 6.15 and 28.43 ± 8.05 mg.d-1 and 25.91 ± 5.94 and 30.89 ± 7.95 mg.d-1, respectively. The metabolic study on rats revealed that the calcium bioavailability of TVP fortifi ed with CaCO3 was slightly higher than for the unfortifi ed and fortifi ed TVP with CaCl2.