The Effect of Cocoa upon Calcium Utilization and Requirements, Nitrogen Retention and Fecal Composition of Women

Abstract

The effect of the ingestion of a moderate-cost American process cocoa on calcium utilization was studied in 8 college women, 18 to 22 years of age. This involved estimation of calcium balances for 208 consecutive days, except for 15 days intervening for the Christmas holidays. Five levels of cocoa (5.6, 21.0, 28.5, 34.8 and 56.2 gm) were tested, 4 in diets containing milk as the major source of calcium and the other (21.0 gm) in a milk-free diet. Because of the bulky nature of the stools on the cocoa periods, additional observations were made on stool composition. A summary of the results follows: It may be concluded that the tolerance of the subjects of this experiment for cocoa of the grade used was approximately one ounce daily, and that any possible deleterious effect of cocoa on calcium utilization was completely obscured by the variation (both within groups and within subjects) of the experimental data.