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Abstract

It is well-known that calcium forms a highly insoluble salt with oxalate. The formation of this compound can significantly reduce the bioavailability of calcium in the body. There is a significant lack of research analyzing how the addition of oxalate affects the calcium ion concentration in a complex biological sample. This study investigated the effect of oxalate on calcium concentration in 2% fat cow’s milk. A complexometric titration was used to determine the concentration of calcium ions present in each sample. It was expected that calcium ion concentration would have a linear dependence on relative oxalate amounts. Instead, it was determined that there is a significant decreasing sigmoidal trend in the data as more oxalate is added. This study derives a simplified model for the bioavailability of calcium in the presence of oxalate. The results provide a quantitative analysis of how oxalate decreases bioavailable calcium.