Multicountry estimation of dietary boron intake

Dietary Reference Intakes are not yet established for boron (B), a naturall y occurring trace element in the human diet. Estimated dietary B intakes pr ovide useful information for planning and assessing diets in healthy popula tions. The countries selected for this study represent a wide variety of di etary patterns and have adequate nutrient databases (with the exception of B) and food consumption data. Large-scale nationwide survey data were provi ded by the US (1989-1991) and Germany (1985-1989). Survey data from rural a gricultural communities of Mexico and Kenya were provided by the Human Nutr ition Collaborative Research Support Program (1983-1986). A B nutrient data base was created to include B concentrations for the foods consumed in each country. It incorporates B analytical data from various sources in the US, Finland, UK, Italy, Japan, and China. Each person's average daily B intake was estimated by linking the B database with the survey food records. Aver age dietary intake estimates were then generated for various age and sex gr oups. The estimates for adults in the US, Germany, Mexico and Kenya, respec tively, are 1.11, 1.72, 2.12, and 1.95 mg B/d for males and 0.89, 1.62, 1.7 5, and 1.80 mg B/d for females. Foods that are major contributors to the B intake of each country were also identified.