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Intestinal and Bone Health With Probiotics Fortified With Specialty Minerals Precipitated Calcium Carbonates (PCCs)

Probiotics, also known as good bacteria, are living microorganisms that provide a health benefit to the body when ingested. These bacteria are formulated into food products, largely drinks, or into nutritional supplements in a variety of forms.

Until a few years ago, yogurt was the dairy item of choice for introducing friendly bacteria into the body. Interest in additional types of bacteria besides those in yogurt began with the marketing of probiotics in Europe and Asia. They’re now making their way into North America as well.

Some probiotics contain lactobacillus and bifidobacterium strains that are typically found in the human intestine, while others add strains not naturally occurring in the body. Just as aging and health factors change bone density, they also can alter the body’s microbial content. Using probiotic dairy products that contain these strains can help restore and improve the intestinal flora balance, leading to a variety of associated health benefits.

Calcium Fortified Probiotic Foods
Probiotic drinks are typically milk and/or yogurt based. Probiotics can be calcium fortified to make the health benefit two-fold—good intestinal health along with good bone health. Calcium carbonate is an excellent way to provide calcium to a soy yogurt -based probiotic drink, and extra calcium to one that contains milk or milk yogurt. Other foods, such as cheese, are formulated with probiotics, and can also be calcium fortified.

Also possible are probiotic-containing calcium-fortified snacks or meal replacements—such as nutrition, breakfast, or snack bars—as well as breakfast cereals and other solid foods.


Calcium Fortified Probiotic Nutritional Supplements 
Dry probiotics, often freeze dried, can be compounded with calcium into many of the dosage forms common for calcium supplements such as chewable or swallowable tablets, capsules, or soft gels. Click here for more information on Specialty Minerals Inc.’s (SMI’s) calcium carbonates in these kinds of nutritional supplements.


Specialty Minerals Calcium Carbonates For Fortified Probiotics
Specialty Minerals has a broad range of precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) products that can be used for probiotic formulations, including the ViCALity® and CalEssence® USP PCCs, manufactured in Adams, Massachusetts, in the U.S., and the Sturcal™, Calofort® and Calopake® EP PCCs, manufactured in Birmingham, U.K. Click here to learn more about these families of calcium carbonates. All are have high elemental calcium contents—about 40 percent—and are highly bioavailable.

For liquid products, a smaller calcium carbonate is preferred, as it tends to stay suspended longer than a larger particle. The 0.7 micron ViCALity Albafil® USP PCC and ultra-low lead CalEssence® 70 USP PCCs are often chosen for use in milk and soymilk because of their excellent suspension properties. For the ultimate in suspension, SMI offers two uncoated, nano ultrafine PCCs, Calofort® U EP PCC and Multifex-MM® USP PCC, each 0.07 microns in size. Stoke’s law says that the settling rate of a particle in a liquid is proportional to the square of the particle size, so reducing the particle size by a factor of 10 should reduce settling by a factor of 100.

Bars, tablets, and other solid probiotic products typically make use of larger calcium carbonate particles; such particles, in the 3 to 12 micron range, are still small enough to provide excellent taste and mouth feel. The SMI products recommended here are ViCALity® Heavy, Extra Heavy and Ultra Heavy, CalEssence® 300, 450 and 1500 USP-certified PCCs, all made by SMI in Adams, Massachusetts, and Sturcal™ H and L EP-certified PCCs, made in the SMI Birmingham, U.K. plant.

Click here to read more about these products, or use the link below to download their data sheets.

 

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