Daily dietary intake of iron, copper, zinc and manganese in a Spanish population.

To evaluate the daily dietary intake of essential metals in the Canary Islands, the iron, copper, zinc and manganese contents in 420 food and drink samples collected in local markets were analysed by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). The estimated daily dietary intakes of iron, copper, zinc and manganese are 13.161 mg/day, 2.098 mg/day, 8.954 mg/day and 2.372 mg/day, respectively. The iron dietary intake was found to be below the recommendations fixed for adult women, while the copper and manganese dietary intakes fulfilled the Recommended Dietary Allowances. The mean daily intake of zinc was below the Recommended Dietary Allowance. Cereals were found to be the food group that contributed most to the intake of these metals. While the island of El-Hierro presented iron, copper, zinc and manganese mean intakes over the estimated intakes for the whole archipelago, Fuerteventura island showed the lowest intakes. Tenerife and Fuerteventura showed the lowest iron intakes, being below the recommendations.