Availability of Calcium in Some Philippine Vegetables

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Abstract
In each case the calcium from the 14 vegetables tested was found to be less well utilized than the calcium from milk. The calcium from Talinum triangulare, Amaranthus viridis, Basella rubra, Portulaca oleracea, Capsicum frutescens, Corchorus olitorius, and Allium cepa appeared completely unavailable to mice. Talinum triagulare seemed to be the poorest source of calcium. Calcium from Hibiscus esculentus, Momordica charantia, Brassica oleracea, Lactuca sativa, Brassica juncea, Cucurbita maxima and Moringa oleifera was available to mice to a certain extent. Calcium from Hibiscus esculentus (okra) was utilized best by mice. In general, the vegetables containing appreciable amounts of oxalates were the ones whose calcium appeared to be unavailable. Those which contained small amounts of oxalates appeared to have a certain amount of available calcium.