USE OF A FOOD COMPOSITION DATABASE TO ESTIMATE DAILY DIETARY-INTAKE OF NUTRIENT OR TRACE-ELEMENTS IN JAPAN, WITH REFERENCE TO ITS LIMITATION

Daily dietary intake of 28 trace elements (Al, As, B, Ba, Be, Bi, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ga, Ge, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb, Sc, Se, Si, Sn, Sr, Ti , Tl, V and Zn) were estimated from the food intake records (collected by the 24-h total food duplicate method), taking advantage of recentl y published trace element composition tables for foods in Japan. Becau se the number of food items listed in the tables was not sufficient, t he calculation was made with not all foods recorded, and the results s hould be taken as semiquantitative. The estimated intake was high(i.e. >1 mg/day as a median) for Al, Cu, Mg, Mn, Si, Sr and Zn, medium (i.e . 2-985 mu g/day) for As, B, Ba, Be, Cr, Ge, Mo, Ni, Sb, Sc, Se, Sn an d Ti, and low (i.e. <1 mu g/day) for Cd, Co, Li, Pb and V. Comparison of the present estimates with the reported values in the literature on 15 elements showed that close agreements were observed in the cases o f 10 elements (i.e. Al, B, Cr, Cu, Mg, Mn, Mo, Ni, Se and Zn) for whic h the present estimates are above 1 mu g/day, whereas the discrepancie s were significant for four elements (i.e. Cd, Co, Pb and V) with <1 m u g/day intake. When the expected dietary uptake was compared with tha t by respiration in the cases of the 16 elements for which the atmosph eric concentration data in Japan are available, the uptake was exclusi vely attributable to the dietary route for all 16 elements with the po ssible exception of vanadium.