Minerals in cow milk with special reference to elevated calcium and its radiological implications

In Kudankulam, South India, a mega nuclear power plant station is under construction. Baseline studies have been carried out in this project site; however, there is no literature pertaining to the minerals in cow milk. Milk samples from 10 sampling locations (n=25) in the study area were analysed for macro- (K, Mg and Ca) and micro-minerals (Zn, Cu and Mn) using an ZSOOO series Hitachi atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS). The performance of the method was evaluated by analysing the reference material, IAEA fish tissue (IAEA-407). The concentrations of major and trace minerals in the samples were in the order Ca>K>Mg and Zn>Cu>Mn respectively. The concentration of Ca was comparatively higher than that of K and reported values of Mg. The high water Ca levels and the prevailing tropical semi-arid climatic conditions are the reasons behind the high Ca levels in milk samples. Studies are necessary to find out the exact reason behind the high Ca levels in cow milk. It is also evident from literature that elevated Ca levels would have immense impact on the levels of natural and fallout radionuclides in cow's milk. (author)