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High bioavailability of calcium in fortified Horlicks®

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 55, pages 778–781 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective: To compare the bioavailability of calcium carbonate-fortified Horlicks® with calcium naturally present in milk.

Design: Randomised crossover within-subject comparison using a double label stable isotope technique.

Setting: Institute of Food Research, Human Nutrition Unit.

Participants: Sixteen pre-menopausal women aged 23–40 y, habituated to a high-calcium diet (mean 1240 mg/day).

Results: Mean true fractional calcium absorption was 38.8% (s.d.±14.5) from Horlicks® and 21.2% (s.d.±4.6) from milk. Significantly more calcium was absorbed from a serving of Horlicks® than from the same quantity of calcium present in 420 g semi-skimmed milk (P<0.001).

Conclusions: Fortified Horlicks® is a highly bioavailable source of calcium. A single serving, containing at least 500 mg calcium, provides half the reference nutrient intake for the population sub-group with the highest requirement (adolescent boys) and more than half for all others.

Sponsorship: SmithKline Beecham funded this research project.

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2001) 55, 778–781

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by SmithKline Beecham. We thank Matthew Thirlwall (University of London) for mass spectrometry analysis, Caroline Atherton and Gosia Majsak-Newman for technical assistance, and HNU staff for looking after the volunteers.

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Author notes

  1. SJ Fairweather-Tait: Guarantor: SJ Fairweather-Tait

  2. B Teucher, JR Dainty and SJ Fairweather-Tait: Contributors: BT helped with the experimental design and was responsible for the study, including ethical submission, volunteer recruitment, intervention, analysis, interpreting the findings and completing an internal report on the project. JRD assisted with the calculations and data interpretation. SJF-T helped with experimental design, data interpretation, manuscript preparation, and was responsible for overall project supervision.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Food Research, Norwich Research Park, Colney, Norwich, Norfolk, UK

    B Teucher, JR Dainty & SJ Fairweather-Tait

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  1. B Teucher
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  2. JR Dainty
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  3. SJ Fairweather-Tait
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Correspondence to SJ Fairweather-Tait.

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Teucher, B., Dainty, J. & Fairweather-Tait, S. High bioavailability of calcium in fortified Horlicks®. Eur J Clin Nutr 55, 778–781 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601224

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601224

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