TY - JOUR T1 - Potential micronutrient deficiency lacks recognition in diabetes JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 3 LP - 4 VL - 57 IS - 534 AU - Ann F Walker Y1 - 2007/01/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/57/534/3.abstract N2 - Over the last two decades, an additional ‘tool’ to measure nutrient intake has been introduced by the UK Government. This is the ground-breaking National Diet and Nutrition Survey (NDNS)1, which has revealed widespread risk of micronutrient deficiency. For each NDNS, about 2000 people are selected at random from postal codes to reflect the age, sex, income, and geographical distribution of the UK population. Responders are asked to record and weigh everything they eat for a week and daily intakes of nutrients are calculated from food composition tables. The first survey, published in 1990, was of adults (19–64 years of age). This was so successful that it was followed by surveys of children aged 1.5–4.5 years (1995), adults aged 65 years and over (1998), young people aged 4–18 years (2000), and a second adult survey (2003).The daily dietary target intakes for vitamins and minerals used by the NDNS are the RNIs (Reference Nutrient Intake).2 RNIs are set for the following groups of the UK population: males and females who were subdivided by age, and females subdivided by pregnancy and lactation. Other than age, no account is taken of body size or ethnicity in setting micronutrients targets. Biological variability determines that nutrient requirements will vary between individuals within each human group (for example, adult men or adult women). To account for this variation, the group RNI for each nutrient is set as the … ER -