Gadot comes up with calcium for milk replacements

Milk is one of the best sources of calcium in the Western diet, but for those with an intolerance or aversion it can be difficult to meet the recommended daily amount (RDA) of the bone-building mineral.

Fortified beverages, and in particular milk replacements like soy milk, can help provide a solution, but in the past they have presented formulators with obstacles such as sedimentation, dispersal and coagulation.

Gadot VP of business development and marketing Ronny Hacham explained to NutraIngredients.com that the new compound, known as Gaducol K, does not cause coagulation.

This usually happens when calcium ions meet protein, but since Gaducal K is calcium potassium citrate, the calcium ions are not free in the solution.

Moreover the compound, made up of 15 per cent elemental calcium and six per cent elemental potassium, maintain compete dispersal capability when added to solutions with a neutral pH.

It therefore removes the need to use stabilizers such as hydrocolloids for dispersal.

Hacham said that Gadot's R&D department has tested the use of Gadocal K in both fresh and UHT soy milk and found that no sediment forms in more than four weeks.

"All other products for the fortification of soy milk with calcium precipitate," he said - a factor that means more calcium must be added in order to compensate for that which falls to the bottom of the pack.

There are indications that sedimentation has been a real problem in some calcium-fortified beverages on the market.

A study carried out at Creighton University and published in Nutrition Today in February 2005 found that the calcium actually available in some soy and rice drinks can be as much as 85 percent lower than the amount on the product label, owing to the mineral settling at the bottom of the pack.

Gadot says that Gadocal K can be added up to a level of at least 300mg per 240ml or 8oz serving - the same amount as in cow's milk.

The daily recommended intake of calcium in the UK for healthy adults is 1,000 mg. For teenagers the RDI is 1,300mg to help them achieve critical bone density, and for those over age 50, who are at greatest danger of osteoporosis, 1,200mg.

Hacham said that the use of potassium has been shown by several studies to aid the absorption of calcium in the body, and also reduces the risk of the formation of kidney stones - the main component of which is calcium.

Gadot's Gado range consists of six calcium ingredients (Gadocal), four magnesium (Gadomag), one zinc (Gadozinc) and one with all three (Gado Multimin).

Gadocal K comes just a few weeks after the introduction of another calcium ingredient, Gaducal Extreme, a highly soluble source of the mineral for use in syrups and concentrates that was designed to help formulators get around the problem of low dilution ration (around 1 to 4-7 litres).