title: Calcium bioavailability of vegetarian diets in rats:  potential application in a bioregenerative life-support system.
abstract: Calcium bioavailability of vegetarian diets containing various proportions of candidate crops for a controlled ecological life-support system (CELSS) was determined by femur 45Ca uptake. Three vegetarian diets and a control diet were labeled extrinsically with 45Ca and fed to 5-wk old male rats. A fifth group of rats fed an unlabeled control diet received an intraperitoneal (IP) injection of 45Ca. There was no significant difference in mean calcium absorption of vegetarian diets (90.80 +/- 5.23%) and control diet (87.85 +/- 5.25%) when calculated as the percent of an IP dose. The amounts of phytate, oxalate, and dietary fiber in the diets did not affect calcium absorption.
authors.affiliation: Dept. of Foods & Nutrition, Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.
authors.forename: K P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Nickel
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Smart
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Belury
mesh_terms: D000042:Absorption / Q000502:physiology; D000821:Animal Feed; D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D000818:Animals; D002136:Calcium, Dietary / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000493:pharmacokinetics; D018556:Crops, Agricultural; D004032:Diet; D014676:Diet, Vegetarian; D004043:Dietary Fiber / Q000032:analysis*; D018504:Ecological Systems, Closed; D005269:Femur / Q000378:metabolism; D005526:Food, Formulated / Q000032:analysis; D008297:Male; D009753:Nutritive Value; D010070:Oxalates / Q000032:analysis*; D010833:Phytic Acid / Q000032:analysis*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D002136:Calcium, Dietary; D004043:Dietary Fiber; D010070:Oxalates; D010833:Phytic Acid