[Food sources of calcium and iron in the diet of Beijing elderly].
OBJECTIVE
To analyze the food sources of calcium and iron among the man and women aged 60 years or older from central districts of Beijing.


METHODS
The subjects included 2263 elderly who were selected through random cluster-sampling from 4 central districts of Beijing. Twenty-four-hour dietary recall method was used to obtain their food intakes, and the intakes of calcium and iron from different food groups were calculated.


RESULTS
Milk and milk products were the most important sources of calcium. Its contribution was 34.5%. The contribution of vegetables, cereals and legumes was 19.5%, 14.5%, and 10.9%, respectively. Grain products were the major food sources of iron in this study, 38.0% of total iron intake is derived from them. The contribution of vegetables and legumes is 13.7 and 7.2 percent respectively. Proportion of dietary iron from meat, poultry and fish is only 12.8%.


CONCLUSIONS
The calcium intake and milk consumption of Beijing elderly was significantly increased recently. But just only 1/3 of the subjects often take milk, and the average calcium intake is only about 1/2 of the recommended amount of adequate calcium intake for the elderly. It would be benefit for improving people's calcium nutritional status, if more variety food rich in calcium were available in the market. Iron from those plant sources are nonheme iron, their bioavailability is very low. For improving people's iron nutritional status, using iron fortification food may be a good choice.
Liu
Xiangye
X
Shunyi Branch of Capital University of Medical Sciences, Beijing 101300, China.
Zhao
Xihe
X
Xu
Ling
L
D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D002136:Calcium, Dietary / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002681:China; D003611:Dairy Products; D004034:Diet Surveys; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019266:Iron, Dietary / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008892:Milk; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D012494:Sampling Studies; D014675:Vegetables
D002136:Calcium, Dietary; D019266:Iron, Dietary