1998 Volume 51 Issue 4 Pages 165-171
We investigated the effects of calcium on absorption of fat from chocolate in human males. For three days nine human male adults (Ca-group) were administered 23 pieces of chocolate, each piese (8.0g) containing 3.1g of total fat and 150mg of calcium (derived from eggshell), and a control group was administered the same chocolate without the calcium. All subjects were fed a diet containing a small quantity of fat. All feces were collected and analysed for the levels of total lipid and fatty acids during the study period. The results were as follows. 1) The fecal levels of total lipid were significantly higher in the Ca-group than in the control group. 2) The fecal levels of palmitic and stearic acids were also higher in the Ca-group. 3) There was a marked correlation between the concentration of fecal calcium and fecal total lipid. 4) No marked change was observed in serum lipid or calcium. These results suggest that the calcium in the chocolate combined particularly with saturated fatty acids in the digestive canal and inhibited their absorption, although no change in serum lipids was observed in the short term.
