Esther, I had just read an article about how oligosaccharides increase calcium absorption, so I looked at that search and found this article that mentions lactose and calcium absorption. Even though the authors conclude adequate calcium is absorbed from the formuals they used with or without lactose they say this in the discussion: "In this study, we found significantly lower total and percentage calcium absorption when infants were fed a lactose-free infant formula than when they were fed a formula containing lactose; both formulas contained partially hydrolyzed whey protein. However, the infants absorbed substantially more calcium than expected from both formulas, and the lactose-free formula appeared to provide adequate absorbed calcium. The use of lactose-free formulas based on cow-milk protein in infant nutrition has increased recently. Many parents prefer these formulas because of the possibility of lactose intolerance in their infants. However, lactose is thought to enhance the absorption of minerals, especially calcium, and therefore the consequences of this trend should be evaluated. Lactose-free soy-protein formulas have been used for many years, but they usually contain substantially more calcium than do cow-milk-based formulas to compensate for the decreased mineral absorption resulting from the presence of soy protein and the absence of lactose." youcan download the PDF of the article at this URL : <A HREF="http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/76/2/442">http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/76/2/442</A> Am J Clin Nutr. 2002 Aug;76(2):442-6. Calcium and zinc absorption from lactose-containing and lactose-free infant formulas. Abrams SA, Griffin IJ, Davila PM. Mardrey Swenson, DC, IBCLC *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(TM) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html