High sales of calcium enriched milk in the city indicates the preference of many local residents, who believe extra calcium is a benefit worth paying for.

Calcium enriched milk is about 20 per cent more expensive than the ordinary kind in local supermarkets. The 980 milliliters of Everbright ordinary milk costs 6.7 yuan (US$0.8), while the extra calcium version costs 7.7 yuan.

"Calcium enriched milk is said to benefit health, especially for elders, so I think it worth paying one or two yuan extra," said He Rongrong, a middle-aged housewife of moderate means. "Of course, more calcium can only be better."

But opinion from local experts tends to the opposite opinion. Calcium enriched milk is seen as a kind of "gilding the lily" of no real benefit to health.

"Calcium enriched milk, in my opinion, is just commercial hype. I don't think it benefits health at all," said Gu Jiasheng, deputy secretary of the Shanghai Dairy Association. "People are willing to spend more money on calcium enriched milk because they don't know whether it actually has any effect."

The expert with over 20 years experience researching into dairy products said among all natural foods, milk, which is rich in calcium, is the most nutritious and the easiest to absorb.

There is already enough calcium in fresh milk, of the type that is most readily absorbed by humans.

It is unnecessary to add calcium to fresh milk, experts said.

Every 100 milliliters of fresh milk contains about 100 milligrams of calcium. Among natural foods rich in calcium, dairy milk is second only to maternal milk.

Not only is added calcium difficult for the body to absorb, it could even pose a danger to health, according to a report from the Shanghai Oriental TV Station. "Excessive calcium leads to high calcium levels in the blood which can result in arterial hardening," said Chen Xiafei, director of nutrition department of Huadong Hospital.

Experts said the maximum level of calcium that can be safely absorbed each day is about 2,000 milliliters. For adults over 18 years old, 800 milliliters of calcium a day is a healthy level.

In fact, according to the country's regulations on food fortifiers, milk is not on the list of those foods to which calcium can be legally added.

"Calcium enriched milk, which is strictly speaking 'illegal', has swept the market without supervision. To me, this is the result of poor administration in the industry," Gu said.

According to the traditional system, the milk industry is subordinated to different departments such as that of light industry or agriculture, and to supply and marketing agencies in countryside. There is still no official department taking overall responsibility for supervising milk production.

"Sometimes multiple departments produce contradictory regulations and launch different administrations, but frequently no one care about it," Gu said.

(Shanghai Star December 2, 2002)