The Availability of Calcium in Calcium Salts and Minerals for Bone Formation in the Growing Chick

Abstract

Experimental work with the growing chick has pointed out the importance of calcium and vitamin D, or its equivalent, in the growth and mineral metabolism of this species. One theory commonly advanced in an attempt to explain inefficient calcium assimilation during periods of apparently abundant intake, is that the calcium is present in a form unavailable to the particular species. With the recognition of the interrelationship between calcium and phosphorus assimilation and vitamin D, or its equivalent, this hypothesis has lost considerable weight. Curiously enough there still prevails the all too common idea that mineral elements must be in organic combination to make normal and maximum assimilation possible.

As early as 1908 it was shown at the Wisconsin Station¹ that calcium, in the form of phosphate, is utilized by the pig. In the same year Aron and Frese² offered proof that the dog can obtain its calcium just as efficiently . . .