Dietary factors interactions with minerals

The concept of bioavailability was developed to explain the difference between the total amount of mineral in a food and the amount which was used by the individual consuming the food. Over the past sixty years or more, there have been numerous studies related to dietary calcium requirements and bioavailability (1,2). As a result, much is known about non-calcium food components which influence the absorption and utilization of dietary calcium under experimental conditions. What now is lacking is a detailed knowledge of how these factors interact with calcium under normal conditions of ingestion in meals. 

Determination of human requirements for dietary trace minerals necessarily includes knowledge of the factors which affect the availability of minerals for absorption Interactions of dietary minerals with organic constituents of the diet and with other minerals are complex Careful study of mineral absorption in human subjects is required to delineate dietary requirements and the factors which affect them ... 

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