Chicken soup revisited: calcium content of soup increases with duration of cooking

Because low dietary calcium intake may accelerate bone loss, patients often are advised to increase their dietary intake of calcium. However, some patients may be unable to tolerate good calcium sources such as dairy products. We postulated that the calcium content of soups and stews could be increased by prolonged cooking with a beef bone. Three experiments were done to prove this theory: (1) a bone soup made with a beef bone and distilled water, cooked for 24 hours; (2) a bone-vegetable soup cooked the same way; and (3) a vegetable soup made the same way but without the bone. It was concluded that prolonged cooking of a bone in soup increases the calcium content of the soup when cooked at an acidic, but not at a neutral pH.