Dietary intake of trace elements among rural elderly people

Objective To know dietary in take and food source of trace elements in the rural elderly above 65 years old in Sichuan province.Methods Local grain,vegetable and other food samples were collected and eight trace elements in the samples were detected.Then the daily dietary in take of the trace elements were calculated based on the result of daily dietary questionnaire survey.Results The detection rate of all 8 trace elements was above 80% in the 114 food samples.The average daily in take of Se,Ca,Cu,Fe,Zn,Cd,Pb,and Al were 14.325±8.914 μg/day,333.407±269.785,3.109±4.890,18.179±27.515,6.902±3.493,0.011±0.017,0.009±0.017,and 1.375±1.037 mg/day,respectively.Over 50% of the study population had the in take of Se,Ca,Cu,Fe,and Zn lower than reference nutrient in take or adequate in take;43.9% and 16.2% of study population had dietary in take of Cd and Pb exceeding the provisional tolerable weekly intake.All food intake of trace elements had no gender difference except for Cu(P<0.001).Conclusion Dietary intake of trace elements is generally inadquate among the rural elderly in Sichuan province.Dietary in take of Cd and Pb in the population exceeds the daily lim it seriously.