Topic of the Month
Micronutrient insufficiency: Risk groups
1 September 2010
The conclusions drawn from numerous national nutrition surveys are that there is no prevalence of vitamin deficiencies ("as a statistical mean") in industrialized countries. As long as we eat a balanced diet including the foods recommended by the nutrition societies (e.g. five portions of fruit and vegetables a day), our vitamin requirements will be met. However, the nutrition experts admit that their investigations into vitamin intake in the general population revealed wide variations and that not everybody actually achieves the targeted reference values. Risk groups with comparatively poor dietary habits and inadequate micronutrient intake were identified in every age group.