Human calcium absorption from whole-wheat products.

Area of Science:

• Nutritional Science
• Human Physiology
• Food Science

Background:

• Dietary calcium absorption is crucial for bone health.
• Wheat products contain phytates that can inhibit mineral absorption.
• Understanding calcium bioavailability from different wheat forms is important for dietary recommendations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify fractional calcium absorption from various wheat products.
• To investigate the effect of co-ingesting wheat products with milk on calcium absorption.
• To assess the influence of processing (fermentation, browning) on calcium bioavailability from wheat.

Main Methods:

• Randomized crossover studies in healthy adult women.
• Intrinsically labeling wheat with radioactive calcium-45 (45Ca).
• Measuring fractional calcium absorption from leavened bread, wheat bran cereal, and cookies, both alone and when co-ingested with milk.

Main Results:

• Fractional calcium absorption from leavened whole-wheat bread (0.817) was higher than from milk (0.589).
• Calcium absorption from wheat bran cereal (0.223) was significantly lower than from milk (0.375).
• Co-ingestion of bread with milk reduced bread calcium absorption, while co-feeding cereal with milk reduced milk calcium absorption.

Conclusions:

• Calcium absorption from whole-wheat bread is generally higher than from milk.
• Wheat bran cereal significantly inhibits calcium absorption compared to milk.
• Processing methods like yeast fermentation and Maillard browning may influence calcium absorption from wheat products, though browning extent had no significant effect on cookie absorption.