Vitamin D intakes in 18-64-y-old Irish adults

• Published in: European journal of clinical nutrition Vol. 58; no. 11; pp. 1509 - 1517
• Main Authors: Hill, T.R, O'Brien, M.M, Cashman, K.D, Flynn, A, Kiely, M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basingstoke Nature Publishing 01-11-2004; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adults; Age Factors; Biological and medical sciences; Calciferol; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Clinical nutrition; Daily Reference Values; Diet; Diet Surveys; dietary nutrient sources; Dietary Supplements; Eggs; Female; Fish; fish products; Fishery products; Food; Food Analysis; Food composition; Food consumption; Food intake; Food sources; fortified foods; High-performance liquid chromatography; Human physiology applied to population studies and life conditions. Human ecophysiology; Humans; Ireland; Liquid chromatography; Male; Meat; Meat products; Medical sciences; Men; Middle Aged; Nationwide Food Consumption Survey; Nutrition; Nutrition Policy; Nutritional Requirements; Nutritional survey. Food supply and nutritional requirement; Sex Factors; Subgroups; vitamin A; Vitamin D; Vitamin D - administration & dosage; vitamin supplements; Women; Ireland; Human; dietary intakes; Survey; Feeding behavior; Vitamin D; food consumption data; Food intake; Adult; food composition data; Public health; Food; Irish
• ISSN: 0954-3007; 1476-5640
• DOI: 10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602001

Objective: To estimate vitamin D intakes in a representative sample of Irish adults and to assess the contribution of foods to these intake estimates. Design: Vitamin D intakes in 1379, 18-64-y-old adults from the North/South Ireland Food Consumption Survey were estimated using a combination of new analytical data for vitamin D in foods, determined by HPLC, and used to revise recipe calculations, together with existing data from McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods, 5th Edition plus supplements. Results: The total mean daily intake (MDI) of vitamin D (1 microgram=40 IU) from all sources was 4.2 microgram. The MDI was significantly higher (P<0.001) when the contribution from nutritional supplements was included (4.2 microgram) compared with food sources only (3.2 microgram). Men had significantly higher intakes (4.4 microgram) than women (4.0 microgram; P<0.001), which increased significantly (P<0.001) with age in both sexes. Meat/meat products (30.1%), fish/fish products (14.3%) and eggs/egg dishes (9.1%) were the main contributors to vitamin D intake. Supplements contributed 6.8 and 12% to MDI in men and women, respectively. In all, 74% of adults had an MDI of vitamin D that was less than the median (5 microgram) of the recommended daily range of 0-10 microgram. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that a large number of Irish adults have low vitamin D intakes. This, along with emerging evidence of low vitamin D status in at least some population subgroups, suggests that strategies to increase vitamin D intakes, including fortification of food, should be investigated.