Data of calcium content, digestibility and bioaccessibility of Moringa oleifera, spinach and sweet potato leaves
Calcium content digestibility and bioaccessibility
Data of three experiments are reported. Sample identifiers: S1=spinach; S.P. 2= Sweet potato leaf; M3 = Moringa from India; M4 = Moringa from Karonga, Malawi; M5 = Moringa from Lillongwe, Malawi (the last digit refers to replicate within experiment). The leaf number indicates the numerical value corresponding to the sample identifier in column B. Plant total calcium: the percentage of calcium measured in the dry plant tissue by atomic absorption. Initial inside (ml): volume inserted into dialysis tubing. Intial outside (ml): volume outside dialysis tubing. Initial Ca A.A (ppm): calcium concentration inside dialysis tubing. Initial Ca (mg): quantity of calcium initially in the dialysis tubing (G x E, corrected for the volume removed for measurement). Total Volume (ml): Total volume of the system that is accessible to the bioaccessible calcium. Final Ca overall: mg of Ca inhabiting the entire accessible volume, calculated in experiment 1 as Ca concentration outside the dialysis tubing times the accessible volume, and in experiments 2 and 3 as the difference between initial and final content of calcium inside the dialysis tubing times the accessible volume. Ca dialyzed: percentage of plant total calcium introduced to the dialysis tubing (digestible Ca) that was recovered in the accessible volume at the end of the experiment. Ca digested: digestible calcium calculated as the percentage of the plant total calcium found in the filtrate fluid after enzymatic digestion of the plant material. Ca dialyzed of dry matter Ca: bioaccessible calcium. The percentage of the plant total calcium that is bioaccessible is calculated as the product of the percentage of Ca dialyzed x the percentage of Ca digested, divided by 100.