Nullis
Moderator
Alrighty, so this thread is in response to another which was hi-jacked regarding the amounts of minerals in molasses (namely calcium). The only thing at issue here is the actual amount of calcium (or any other mineral) and how this compares with other strictly calcium supplements like Calplex or CalMag. Some people seem to think the molasses contains more Ca than either of those supplements, which is simply incorrect (not that blackstrap isn't a good supplement to use).
Which brings us to the first hurdle: molasses brands have varying concentrations of minerals and blackstrap has the most concentrated minerals and least amount of sugars of molasses varieties. Blackstrap is what results after the 3rd boiling of molasses, after the majority of sucrose has precipitated out. However, even between blackstrap labels the contents of some minerals can vary wildly. While the organic Plantation Blackstrap apparently has 8% of the human DV for calcium, the regular Plantation Blackstrap actually has 20%.
And this is where the greatest complication lies. Mineral contents on foodstuffs are, of course, listed as the % daily values of the recommended intake for the mineral. For example, if you want to know how much calcium is actually in one serving (21g) of your molasses you first have to consider the RDI for the mineral. As an adult human male requires 1000 milligrams of calcium per day; when you see "Calicum...8%" or "Calcium...20%" it means there is 80 mg or 200 mg, respectively, in each serving. As a typical serving of molasses is a tablespoon, which is about 21 grams or 21,000 milligrams, we can use this info to calculate a percentage which represents the actual mass of the mineral.
If there is 8% DV calcium, which we established as 80 mg out of a 21,000 mg serving then in fractional terms we're looking at 80:21,000 which can reduce to 10:2625 which can reduce to 2:525. We can take any one of those fractions now: say you divide 2 by 525, you'll get 0.0038095238095238095238095238095238 and you can multiple that by 100 to get an actual percentage - which is 0.381% (rounded).
If there is 20% DV calcium, which we established as 200 mg out of a 21,000 mg serving then in fractional terms we're looking at 200:21,000 which can reduce very easily to 1:105 thanks to common denominators. We can see now this is very close to 1%, but for the hell of it take either fraction and divide the top into the bottom so you'll get 0.0095238095238095238095238095238095 and you can multiple that by 100 to get an actual percentage - which is 0.95%.
There, I showed my work! If you disagree, please show yours. For the one who believes there is 292 mg of calcium per serving (not naming any names), I am extremely interested where you got that figure from. Math can be hard for stoners. myself included. I seriously doubt it in this case, but I might even be wrong! Even so, if it can be proven that I am blatantly wrong I wouldn't be so thickheaded to as to disregard obvious facts.
And here is another example which lists the % DV alongside the actual weight of the mineral in a serving, only issue it this isn't for blackstrap, but it establishes pretty well the rest of what I am saying: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/sweets/5573/3
Which brings us to the first hurdle: molasses brands have varying concentrations of minerals and blackstrap has the most concentrated minerals and least amount of sugars of molasses varieties. Blackstrap is what results after the 3rd boiling of molasses, after the majority of sucrose has precipitated out. However, even between blackstrap labels the contents of some minerals can vary wildly. While the organic Plantation Blackstrap apparently has 8% of the human DV for calcium, the regular Plantation Blackstrap actually has 20%.
And this is where the greatest complication lies. Mineral contents on foodstuffs are, of course, listed as the % daily values of the recommended intake for the mineral. For example, if you want to know how much calcium is actually in one serving (21g) of your molasses you first have to consider the RDI for the mineral. As an adult human male requires 1000 milligrams of calcium per day; when you see "Calicum...8%" or "Calcium...20%" it means there is 80 mg or 200 mg, respectively, in each serving. As a typical serving of molasses is a tablespoon, which is about 21 grams or 21,000 milligrams, we can use this info to calculate a percentage which represents the actual mass of the mineral.
If there is 8% DV calcium, which we established as 80 mg out of a 21,000 mg serving then in fractional terms we're looking at 80:21,000 which can reduce to 10:2625 which can reduce to 2:525. We can take any one of those fractions now: say you divide 2 by 525, you'll get 0.0038095238095238095238095238095238 and you can multiple that by 100 to get an actual percentage - which is 0.381% (rounded).
If there is 20% DV calcium, which we established as 200 mg out of a 21,000 mg serving then in fractional terms we're looking at 200:21,000 which can reduce very easily to 1:105 thanks to common denominators. We can see now this is very close to 1%, but for the hell of it take either fraction and divide the top into the bottom so you'll get 0.0095238095238095238095238095238095 and you can multiple that by 100 to get an actual percentage - which is 0.95%.
There, I showed my work! If you disagree, please show yours. For the one who believes there is 292 mg of calcium per serving (not naming any names), I am extremely interested where you got that figure from. Math can be hard for stoners. myself included. I seriously doubt it in this case, but I might even be wrong! Even so, if it can be proven that I am blatantly wrong I wouldn't be so thickheaded to as to disregard obvious facts.
And here is another example which lists the % DV alongside the actual weight of the mineral in a serving, only issue it this isn't for blackstrap, but it establishes pretty well the rest of what I am saying: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/sweets/5573/3
Molasses mineral values - dipshit edition
