Iron, Zinc, Manganese and Copper Intakes in Japanese Children Aged 3 to 5 Years

This study aimed to measure and evaluate the intakes for the four trace elements of Fe, Zn, Mn, and Cu in 3- to 5-y-old Japanese preschool children. The study group consisted of a total of 90 3- to 5-y-old children living in Yokkaichi, Mie, Japan. Diet samples were collected by the duplicate-portion technique on 3 d at three different seasons between summer in 1999 and winter in 2000. The medians of annual mean daily intakes (25th-75th percentile) of Fe, Zn, Mn, and Cu in the 3- to 5-y-old children were 3.1 mg (2.4 to 3.6), 4.0 mg (3.4 to 4.7), 1.3 mg (1.1 to 1.6), and 0.45 mg (0.35 to 0.56), respectively. The annual mean value of the total daily diet intake had significant correlations with the Fe, Zn, Mn and Cu intakes (Spearman's r=0.55, 0.67, 0.58, and 0.55, respectively; p