Assessment of dietary zinc in a population.

Assessment of dietary zinc status in a population requires several steps, consisting of the measurement of food intake distributions in the population; the analysis of local staple foods, from which zinc intake distributions can be determined, and the comparison of zinc intakes with requirement estimates to determine the risk of inadequate intakes. In low-income countries, these steps may be complicated by the lack of preexisting food-composition data, variations in food preparation methods, inhibition of absorption by other compounds in the diet, and variations in intake among seasons, individuals, and populations. Different techniques for determining the adequacy of zinc intake are compared. Whereas the techniques described in this paper allow for the determination of probability estimates for risk of zinc inadequacy, they do not allow for the identification of actual individuals in a population who are zinc deficient, or define the severity of zinc inadequacy. This information is vital, especially in areas where zinc deficiency is but one of many health problems, and can be obtained only from more detailed biochemical and physiologic studies of zinc status.