VITAMIN INTAKES (A, E, C, CAROTENES) IN A FRENCH INSTITUTION - ASSESSMENT BY THE DUPLICATE-DIET METHOD

Duplicate meals of those eaten by 14 healthy young males (25-35 years of age), usual hospital diets for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, were c ollected for 5 consecutive days and freeze-dried. Fat-soluble vitamin (alpha-, beta-, gamma-, and delta-tocopherols, retinol, alpha- and bet a-carotenes) and vitamin C contents were analyzed. Duplicate meals pre sented a wide range in vitamin levels. Large individual day-to-day var iations were observed. The median daily intakes (n = 70) of retinol eq uivalent (0.31 mg/day) and tocopherol equivalent (3.48 mg/day) were lo w. Only one third of the meals could provide sufficient amounts of fat -soluble vitamins, whereas vitamin C intakes were adequate (87.4 mg/ d ay). So, fat-soluble recommended intakes were not supplied for most of the subjects in this study.