Dietary intake of zinc and selenium in Turkey

It is known that in the Turkish soil Se and Zn concentrations are somewhatlower than in other countries. Lower zinc intake causes significant healthproblems mostly at rural areas. Six different population groups, total of55 subjects, consisting of children, people from rural areas, university studentsand staff members were selected and diet samples were collected by duplicateportion technique. Bread and flour samples were collected from six differentbakeries in Ankara. Zinc, selenium and other trace elements in these sampleswere analyzed mostly by INAA. Daily dietary zinc intake differs among differentgroups, ranging 5–13 mg Zn/day, and for all cases, it is lower thanRDA value of 15 mg Zn/day. Similarly, selenium daily intake is around 20–53µg Se/day, which is also lower than RDA value of 55–70 µgSe/day.