DAIRY CONSUMPTION AND CALCIUM INTAKE OF EGYPTIAN WOMEN

Dairy products are nutrient-dense foods necessary to promote bone health, to help reduce risk for chronic diseases. This study was conducted to evaluate the daily calcium intake by using 24 hour dietary intake method, the sources of calcium and the percent intake of different dairy products. A stratified, multistage, random sampling design was used to select approximately 3854 households in Giza, Sharkia, Domiat, Behira and Bany-Sueif governorates distributed between urban and rural area. The survey data indicate that the mean intakes of calcium, are higher for urban Beheira mothers (814.14mg/day, 67.85% of RDA) than that of governorates and the lowest was for urban Bany-Sueif mothers (658.96 mg/day, 54.91% of RDA), with significant differences in intakes between governorates at P 0.05. Dairy foods contributed about 42.42% of the dietary calcium for the total population, the highest consumption of milk were in urban Behira (52.8%) and the lowest, were in rural Bany-Suief (4.7%). As for cheese, the highest consumption was in rural Bany-Suief (84.2%) and the lowest was in urban Giza (40.3%). But the consumption of yogurt was higher in urban Domiat (18.8%) but the lowest was in rural Bany-Suief (0.7%).These results reinforce the importance of nutritional educational efforts to promote milk consumption, which has declined over the past several decades. Also fortification of some products must be considered to increase the intake of calcium