Dietary intakes of phytate and its meal distribution pattern amongst staff and students in an institution of higher education.

1. Seventy-six students and staff at Robert Gordon's Institute of Technology weighed all items of food consumed for 1 week. 2. Mean phytate-phosphorus intakes ranged from 141 mg for female students to 237 mg for male students. Breakfast was proportionally a more important contributor to daily phytate intakes than to calcium, zinc, and energy intakes. Cereals were the most important contributors to the phytate at breakfast, whilst wholemeal and brown bread were more important at lunch and the evening meal. 3. The phytate: Zn molar ratio was distributed amongst meals similarly to the more complex ratio, (Ca x phytate):(Zn x energy) (CP:ZE); both ratios have been suggested as useful predictors of Zn availability. CP:ZE ranged more widely when calculated for meals than for days, and therefore some meals could be associated with poor Zn availability whilst others could compensate with higher availability. Subjects with the highest values for CP:ZE were mostly amongst the group of nutrition students.