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  • Original Communication
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Estimation of intake and status of vitamin A, vitamin E and folate in older European adults: the ZENITH

Abstract

Objective:

To report selected dietary intake and vitamin status at baseline of volunteers participating in the ZENITH study and the correlation of vitamin status with zinc.

Design:

A multicentre prospective intervention study employing a randomised double-blind design.

Setting:

Clermont-Ferrand, Theix (France), Coleraine (Northern Ireland), Grenoble (France), Rome (Italy).

Participants:

In total, 387 healthy middle-aged (55–70 y) and older (70–87 y) men and women participated in the study.

Methods:

Dietary intake was assessed by means of a validated 4-d recall record. Fasting blood samples were simultaneously analysed for retinol and α-tocopherol by the HLPC method. Erythrocyte folates were measured by a competitive immunoassay with direct chemiluminescence detection on an automatised immunoanalyser.

Results:

In all centres, men had a significantly (P<0.0001) higher mean nutrient intake than women. Comparison between age-groups showed that older individuals had significantly lower intakes of macro- and selected micronutrients than middle-aged subjects (P<0.0001). A high fat intake (from 36 to 40% of total energy) was observed in all examined groups. In relation to biochemical measures of vitamin status, all parameters were above their respective cut-off values for normality and, thus, none of the subjects had biochemical evidence of deficiency of these selected vitamins. A moderate correlation was found with plasma vitamin A and serum zinc (r=0.12, P<0.05) or red blood cell zinc (r=0.12, P<0.01) and with erythrocyte folates and red blood cell zinc (r=0.11, P<0.05).

Conclusions:

There were only moderate differences in the nutrient intake of the ZENITH study volunteers among the four European centres. Their biochemical status for retinol, α-tocopherol and folate appeared adequate.

Sponsorship:

The ZENITH study is supported by the European Commission ‘Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources’, Fifth Framework Programme, Contract no. QLK1-CT-2001-00168.

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Acknowledgements

INRAN thanks Beatrice Mauro and Myriam Galfo for their invaluable support in the data entry of the food questionnaires and in the integration of food composition table.

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Correspondence to A Polito.

Additional information

Guarantor: G Maiani.

Contributors: GM and AP wrote the paper; MAS and NM were responsible for recruitment in each centre; FI carried out the field study and the analyses of vitamins A and E; EA carried out the field study and the analyses of vitamins A and E and prepared the database containing all centres' data for vitamins A and E; AR performed the analyses of vitamin A and vitamin E; VD performed the analysis of erythrocyte folate; JMO and AMR are the centre coordinators; and CC is the ZENITH project coordinator. All authors contributed to paper revision.

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Polito, A., Intorre, F., Andriollo-Sanchez, M. et al. Estimation of intake and status of vitamin A, vitamin E and folate in older European adults: the ZENITH. Eur J Clin Nutr 59 (Suppl 2), S42–S47 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ejcn.1602297

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