Re: Electrolytes

[Susan Evans Garlinghouse <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

> On Sat, 11 Jul 1998, Susan Evans Garlinghouse wrote:
> 
> > Dical phosphate is a central molecule of phosphoric acid bonded to two
> > calcium atoms, so it is a source of both calcium and phosphorus.  There
> > are a few other ions, like potassium, magnesium and sodium that tag
> > along, but they're not a significant source.  Specifically, dical
> > phosphate is about 22% calcium, 20% phosphorus, 1.14% sulfur and 0.59%
> > magnesium.
> 
> To what extent are these elements available to the horse if it eats dical
> phosphate?  And how is it made available?
> 


Minerals are absorbed primarily in the small intestine, circulated in
the blood and taken up by the tissues as required or filtered out and
excreted primarily by the kidneys (or in the feces or sweat) if not
required.  Minerals have varying amounts of availability, but dical
phosphate's availability is pretty good, I can look up the numbers if
you need to know exactly, I just can't remember off the top of my head. 
As a general rule, minerals are absorbed much better if they're bound to
a protein---when you see feed mixes with the phrase "chelated minerals"
on the bag, that's what they're talking about.

Susan