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Objective: To study whether hydrothermal treatment or malting of barley (cv. Blenheim) improves zinc and calcium absorption in humans. Design: Two groups of 10 and 12 healthy subjects, respectively, were in a period of 2 months in a fasting state, served two single meals each containing porridge or breakfast cereals prepared from processed or unprocessed (control) barley (60 g). The meals included 200 g of milk, extrinsically labelled with 65 Zn and 47 Ca. Whole-body retention of both minerals was measured. Setting: The study was carried out at the Department of Radiation Physics, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Göteborg. Subjects: The subjects were recruited among students at the Göteborg University. None dropped out. Interventions: The activities of 65 Zn and 47 Ca were measured by whole-body counting four to five times over a 4-week period after each meal. Results: Zinc absorption from hydrothermally treated barley porridge, containing 28 mg P as inositol tri-to hexaphosphates (InsP 3 -InsP 6 ), was significantly higher (Po0.001) than from control porridge containing 111 mg P as InsP 3 -InsP 6 , 25.276.9 vs 11.072.5% (n ¼ 12). Calcium absorption did not differ (P40.05), 21.176.8 vs 19.574.7% (n ¼ 12). Zinc absorption from breakfast cereals of malted barley with phytase activity and containing 70 mg P as InsP 3 -InsP 6, was significantly higher (Po0.05) than from flakes of barley, containing 108 mg P as InsP 3 -InsP 6 and no phytase activity, 22.975.8 vs 14.874.6% (n ¼ 10). The calcium absorption was 21.376.5 vs 18.574.3% (n ¼ 10) and did not differ significantly (P40.05).

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