Nutrition and Health Survey in Taiwan (NAHSIT) 1993-1996: Dietary Nutrient Intakes Assessed by 24-Hour Recall

A Nutrition and Health Survey carried out in 1993-1996 used a multi-staged, stratified, clustered sampling design. A representative, and season-balanced sample of Taiwan was obtained from 21 townships, 3 each in 7 geographical or cultural strata. 24-hour recalls were obtained from 5,834 individuals (2,923 men and 2,911 women) aged 13-64. Chinese herbs and nutrient supplements were not included in the calculation of dietary intakes. Mean daily intakes of calories and macro-nutrients for men are: 2,203 kcal, 82.6g of protein, 79.5g of fat, and 272g of carbohydrate. Protein, fat, and carbohydrate consist of 15.5%, 33.5%, and 51% of the total calories, respectively. Mean intakes of calories and macro-nutrients for women are: 1,569 Kcal, 61.6g of protein, 61.1g of fat, and 200g of carbohydrate. Percent calorie from protein, fat, and carbohydrate were 15.4%, 34.4%, and 50.1%, respectively. Men ingested daily 1.4mg of thiamin, 1.3mg of riboflavin, 16.2mg of niacin, 168mg of ascorbic acid, 8090 I.U. of vitamin A, 7.8mg of vitamin E, 504mg of calcium, 14.2mg of iron, 3821mg of sodium, 344mg of cholesterol, and 5.0g of crude fiber. Women ingested 1.1 mg of thiamin, 1.1mg of riboflavin, 11.8mg of niacin, 176mg of ascorbic acid, 7,809 I.U. of vitamin A, 7.3mg of vitamin E, 496mg of calcium, 11.5mg of iron, 3,569mg of sodium, 264mg of cholesterol, and 5.2g of fiber. P/M/S ratio was 0.85/1.17/1 for men and 0.95/1.15/1 for women. The P/S ratio was lower than 1, the recommended value. The vitamin E/polyunsaturated fatty acid ratio was 0.36 for men and 0.41 for women. Overall speaking, the levels of percent calorie from fat and protein were higher, but that of carbohydrate was lower than the ideal values. Mean dietary intakes of vitamin E and calcium in men and women and iron in women were not above the values of the recommended daily nutrient allowances (RDNA). Dietary intakes of vitamin A and ascorbic acid were much beyond RDNA. Dietary cholesterol intake did not exceed 400 mg, recommended upper limit. There were some differences in dietary nutrient intakes among various age and sex groups. Women aged 13-24 and men aged 13-15 had the lowest values in % RDNA of several vitamins and minerals among all age-sex groups. However, carbohydrate intakes were the highest for these young people and for women aged 55-64. In this survey, Taiwan was divided according to dietary habits, geographic locations and urbanization index into 7 strata: Hakka area, mountainous area, eastern coastal area, Peng-Hu islands, metropolitan areas, provincial cities and class I townships, and class II townships. Unique characteristics of Hakka area was that percent calorie from protein was the highest and dietary vitamin E level was the lowest in comparison with others. Dietary intakes of riboflavin, calcium, iron, and crude fiber of the mountainous area were lower than those of other strata. Levels of thiamin, fat, saturated fatty acids, monounsaturated fatty acids, and calorie from fat were lower in Peng-Hu than other strata. Levels of niacin, polyunsaturated fatty acids, P/S ratio, protein, and calorie from carbohydrate were higher than those of others. The metropolitan areas had higher intakes of riboflavin, niacin, calcium, iron, and cholesterol, but lower P/S ratio. The provincial cities and class I townships had lower intakes of vitamin A, vitamin E, and polyunsaturated fatty acids than others. Class II townships had higher levels of monounsaturated fatty acids and percent calorie from fat, but lower level of calorie from protein than others. In comparison with previous two surveys, levels of vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, ascorbic acid, calcium, saturated fatty acids, cholesterol, and percent calorie from protein were higher than before, but levels of calories, protein, fat, carbohydrate, vitamin E, sodium, iron, monounsaturated fatty acids, and P/S ratio were lower than before. Percentage of fat and carbohydrate and crude fiber intake was similar to the previous survey values.