Intake of essential and toxic trace elements in a random sample of Danish men as determined by the duplicate portion sampling technique.

Average daily intakes of essential and toxic trace elements from self-selected diets consumed by 100 men, selected as a random sample among the population of 30-34 year-old men in one urban and two rural areas of Denmark, were determined by the analysis of 48 h duplicate food portions. Median daily dietary intakes were 11.3 mg for zinc, 1.1 mg for copper, 11.3 mg for iron, 51 micrograms for selenium, 3.9 mg for manganese, 99 micrograms for molybdenum, 7 micrograms for lead and 11 micrograms for cadmium. Median dietary intake of mercury was below the detection limit. The observed nitrogen, sodium and potassium intakes were about 25% lower than the average total daily excretion of these constituents. It is therefore assumed that dietary intakes of nutrients during the duplicate portion sampling period were reduced by about 25% and that the observed intakes of trace elements can be regarded as minimum estimates of habitual intake. Taking this into consideration, it is concluded that the content of essential trace elements in Danish diets seems to be adequate and the amounts of the elements lead, mercury and cadmium are of little concern as regards health aspects.