There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.
Abstract
The binding capacity of calcium β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate (calcium HMB), compared
to other binders, was investigated in an in vitro study. Fifty milli-equivalents of
either calcium HMB, calcium acetate, calcium carbonate, aluminum hydroxide gel or
non-gel aluminum hydroxide was added to a phosphate solution, titrated (HC1 or NaOH),
shaken and centrifuged to four different pH levels at 37 °C (simulating the gastrointestinal
milieu). The difference in phosphate concentration between that of the initial and
that of the supernatant represented from the bound phosphate in the precipitate. After
4 h at a pH of 6 (representing the intestinal condition after a meal), the binding
percentage was: calcium acetate = 95.6%, calcium HMB = 92.6%, calcium carbonate =
46.4%, aluminum hydroxide gel = 33.4% and non-gel aluminum hydroxide = 17.8%. There
was no significant difference (p > 0.05) between calcium HMB and calcium acetate.
These results suggest that calcium HMB is an efficient phosphate binder in vitro,
which may predict its effective role in vivo.