Relative contributions of different food groups to vitamin D intake in Asian and Caucasian UK women: results from the Vitamin D, Food Intake, Nutrition and Exposure to Sunlight in Southern England (D-FINES) Study

Abstract

There has been a lack of research into the contribution of different food groups to vitamin D intake in varying age and ethnic groups in theUK. The 2006Ð7 D-FINES Study was undertaken in 373 Surrey premenopausal (PRM) and post-menopausal (POM) Caucasian (C) andAsian (A) women. They were assessed in four seasons of the year for vitamin D (25OHD) status, vitamin D dietary intake and UVBexposure. Relative contributions from different food groups for vitamin D intake were calculated for A and C women in each of the fourseasons.As can be seen in the Table, the top three sources of vitamin D in Asians were meat, cereals and eggs. In Caucasians the top sourceswere meat, Þsh and cereals. Analysis by ANOVA indicated that A women obtained a signiÞcantly higher percentage of vitamin D fromeggs and egg products, meat products and from vegetable foods than the C women. However, C women had a signiÞcantly higher absolutevitamin D intake ( P < 0.001). When the women were divided into four groups by ethnicity and menopausal status, signiÞcant differenceswere found in vitamin D intake from cereals, egg products, vegetables and snacks between the groups but no differences were found formilk, Þsh, meat and fats. These differences were found to be to be signiÞcant ( post hoc tests) only between the PRM A and POM Cgroups. For absolute intakes, there was a signiÞcant difference between the four groups ( P < 0.001). POM C had the highest intake ( posthoc tests), followed in order by PRM C, PRM A and POM A, although signiÞcant differences were only found between intakes of POM Aand POM C ( P < 0.001), and between POM A and PRM C ( P = 0.026).