A Brazilian Total Diet Study: Evaluation of essential elements

Total Diet Study (TDS) has been adopted worldwide and is based on the evaluation of food samples representing a Market Basket, which shows dietary habits of a large-scale population. This TDS presents results of the element concentrations, daily dietary intakes and contributions to the total daily intake of essential elements, Na, K, Ca, Fe, Zn and Cr in 30 food groups of a Market Basket of São Paulo State, Brazil. The methodology for the first Brazilian TDS for the São Paulo State population and its respective Market Basket was developed. Food consumption data and information were obtained from the National Household Food Budget Survey, Pesquisa de Orçamentos Familiares (POF) 2002–2003 conducted by the Brazilian Institute for Geography and Statistics, which includes 5440 foods. The selection criteria to carry out the Market Basket were the foods consumed at more than 2 g/day/person, which represented 72% of the total weight of the foods for this population. Element concentrations were determined by instrumental neutron activation analysis and ranged in mg kg−1 as follows: Na: 1.5–256,185; K: 0.51–532; Ca: 22–1827; Fe: 0.08–49; Zn: 0.030–98; and in μg kg−1 Cr: 2.6–799. The dietary intakes contributed by the Market Basket were: 1928 mg/day−1 Na; 861 mg/day−1 K; 275 mg/day−1 Ca; 5.70 mg/day−1 Fe; 4.25 mg/day−1 Zn and 20.7 μg/day−1 Cr. The observed low levels are probably due to the fact that Market Basket represented 72% of the weight of the household consumed foods. The highest contributions to the total intake of the essential elements were: salts, 78.9% of Na; breads, 36.9% of Fe and 46.4% of Cr; cereals, 18.7% of Zn; and milk/cream, 58.7% of Ca and 23.6% of K.