Effects of Dietary Levels of Phosphorus and Calcium on the Comparative Behaviour of Strontium and Calcium

Abstract

THE body burden of radioactive strontium to be attained in the population depends directly, among other factors, on the comparative metabolic behaviour of ingested strontium and calcium¹. Early work demonstrated a degree of constancy in the relative behaviour of the two elements that made such an approach useful for approximate estimates of radiation dosages to be expected from given intakes of calcium and radioactive strontium. An important practical implication was that if the relative behaviour wore constant, then the body burden of radioactive strontium to be developed could be proportionally reduced by dietary supplementation with uncontaminated calcium². More detailed investigation, however, showed that the relative behaviour of these two alkaline earths did vary under certain conditions^3–6. Therefore the work recorded here was done in growing rats to investigate systematically two important variables which were shown to affect the relative absorption and retention of calcium and strontium; namely, the dietary levels of calcium and phosphorus.