The zinc content of 284 types of 1, 693 food items commonly eaten by the Japanese was measured and a zinc content table was prepared based on the Food Standard Composition Table (4th edition). A good correlation was found between the values calculated using this table and the zinc content of 15 cooked meals. This table provides an estimate of the zinc intake in the average diet of Japanese people. Urban adult inhabitants were asked about the foods they had eaten using the 24-hour recall method and the average daily zinc intake was calculated to be 10.8 mg for males and 9.5 mg for females.
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