Dietary Vitamin D Intake in Italian Subjects: Validation of a Frequency Food Questionnaire (FFQ)

Abstract

Vitamin D plays a crucial role in calcium and phosphate metabolism, relating to bone health and preventing metabolic bone disorders such as rickets and osteomalacia. Vitamin D deficiency (serum 25-OH-D values <20 ng/mL or 50 nmol/L) is common also in Italian people; it is recommended to maintain levels above 30 ng/mL (75 nmol/L) in categories at risk. Supplementation and/or fortification with either ergocalciferol (vitamin D2) or cholecalciferol (vitamin D3) aimed to modify this condition have commonly been proposed. Studies about vitamin D intake are numerous in the literature but not adequately designed and are very often incomplete in Mediterranean Countries such as in the Italian population. On these bases, we performed a survey to validate a frequency food questionnaire (FFQ) specifically created to rapidly assess dietary vitamin D intake in Italian people. For this aim, the data of questionnaires were compared with results derived in the same population from a designed 14-day frequency food diary (FFD). Overall, a good correlation between FFQ and FFD was observed (r = 0.89, p < 0.001), both demonstrating a remarkably low vitamin D intake, irrespective of age and gender. Our data confirm that the vitamin D intake is very low in Italy, which likely contributes to hypovitaminosis D.

Survey of vitamin D intake in the general population in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Multicentre cross-sectional study

“…that are rich in Vit D but also rich in cholesterol, one of the major modifiable cardiovascular risk factors [18]. However, the results of this study are not similar to those of other authors who found either that there was no significant difference in dietary Vit D intake between different age groups [19], or that Vit D intake increased with age [20]. Nevertheless, in these studies, there was a significant increase in Vit D deficiency with age in the populations studied, which suggests that the increase in Vit D intake with age in these study populations was measures to compensate for Vit D deficiency in older subjects, especially as these regions are less sunny.…”

Prevalence and risk factors for atypical femoral fracture among Lebanese patients with hip and shaft fractures

“…The difference in the prevalence of AFF could be accounted for by different baseline risk factors between ethnic groups and other risk factors such as a higher prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in the Lebanese population. 11 , 12 The prevalence in our population was found to be much lower than the prevalence of AFFs seen in the Australian (5%) population. 13 However, it is similar to that seen in one South Korean study (1.2%), an unexpected finding considering that Asian populations are at higher risk for AFFs.…”

Dietary Intake of Vitamin D in Young University Students from Leicester, England

“…The intakes of calcidiol (25(OH)D3; 0.0321 vs. 0.0333 mg/day; p-value = 0.690) and cholecalciferol (also known as vitamin D3; 0.8677 vs. 0.7698 mg/day; p-value = 0.684) were very similar and higher in male counterparts, respectively, although without statistical differences, which could be explained by the differences in the intakes of eggs and meat explained previously [2,14], although further analysis would be needed.…”