Assessing the effects of severe heat treatment of milk on calcium bioavailability: In vitro and in vivo studies

Thermal processing of milk is a common practice. As milk is the main source of dietary calcium, this study aimed to assess the effects of overheating milk on calcium availability. Thus, thermally damaged milk (overheated, OH, milk; 3 cycles of sterilization at 116°C, 16 min) was compared with UHT milk (150°C, 6 s) in 2 types of assays: in vitro and in vivo (rats). In addition, the greater Maillard reaction rate associated with thermal treatment in OH milk was confirmed by determining specific (furosine) and unspecific markers (CieLab color). A negative effect on calcium solubility was observed after in vitro digestion of OH milk compared with UHT milk. Feeding rats the diet containing OH milk as the protein source led to significantly lower values of apparent calcium absorption and retention than those found among animals fed the UHT milk diet. Whereas reducing the absorption appears to result mainly from the decreased food intake, the negative effect on retention seems to be due to factors derived from milk thermal damage, such as the formation of Maillard reaction products. It was concluded that milk-processing conditions warrant special attention to prevent impaired dietary calcium utilization. This may be especially important in situations where milk and dairy products are the main dietary components, such as in early infancy.