Abstract:  Consumers were confused by the numbers and types of different preparations of calcium supplements as more and more subgroup of the population are recommended to increase their daily calcium intake. In this study, a dose under threshold of calcium intake was conducted to compared the bioavailability of two marketing calcium supplements. Ca, Zn, Mg and Pb were measured by FAAS or GFAAS, after a long term calcium balance on growing Wister female rats, bone density of right thighbone were measured. The results showed that the apparent absorbability of the compound calcium carbonate was lower than the compound calcium amino acid chelate(p<0.05),but the absorbabilities of Zn, Mg, Pb were higher (p<0.01 or p<0.05). And the bone density of right thighbone were not significant (p>0.05) between two calcium supplements. It suggest that the bioavailability of calcium from calcium amino acid chelate was superior to one of the calcium carbonate, but absorbability of the heavy metals should be concerned at the same time.

Key words:  , calcium supplement； bioavailability； absorbability； bone density；