At 07:37 PM 6/23/99 -1000, you wrote:
>Aaron:
>>Bones and bone marrow provide *a lot* of calcium, much more than you can
>>get from vegetables.
>
>Bones _and_ bone marrow? Could you share some confirmation that marrow has
>heaps of calcium? I have always been on the look out for a detailed
>nutritional analysis of bone marrow--and always dissappointed.

I don't know about marrow but for anyone that's interested in bone (which,
as fed, includes the marrow), the USDA database does include some "RMB's" -
Raw Meaty Bones. Those of us that feed the Billinghurst diet (aka BARF -
Bones And Raw Food) rely on RMB's for at least 50% of the diet. The RMB's
I've found in the database are:

NDB 05301, Poultry, mechanically deboned, from backs and necks with skin, raw
05302, Poultry, mechanically deboned, from backs and necks without skin, raw
05303, Poultry, mechanically deboned, from mature hens, raw
05304, Turkey, mechanically deboned, from turkey frames, raw

The Ca:P ratio of all of these is in the near perfect range (about 1:1 to
1.3:1). I asked the processor where I get my RMB's and she said the chicken
backs I get for my dogs are hand-deboned. I asked what that meant, and she
said that the chickens from whence these backs come have been deboned by
hand, vs. mechanical deboning. Mechanically deboned chicken backs and necks
have far less meat on them than hand deboned ones. At first glance, the
USDA designations seem confusing, but based on the processor's information,
they simply mean they analyzed "frames" left from birds that had been
mechanically deboned.

There's also an old study:

Udall RH and CM McCay. 1953. The feed value of fresh bone. J.Nutr 49:197

- no detailed analysis of marrow here either. But there is still some
interesting information as to how dogs utilize the calcium and phosphorus
in bone. Also that methionine appears to be the limiting amino acid in
fresh bone. Interestingly, the paper begins with, "The problem of providing
adequate nutrition for large numbers of people has revived interest in the
use of fresh bone as a source of minerals and possibly as a protein
supplement for foods."

FWIW.


Kathy
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