Abstract
In the United Arab Emirates (UAE), many adolescent girls and women (especially the UAE citizens) are not adequately exposed to sunlight and their dietary intake of vitamin D is insufficient to fulfill the required recommended daily allowance of the vitamin. In the present study, the problem of vitamin D and vitamin A insufficiency in female students of UAE University was investigated through a dietary intake assessment of the vitamins. Results indicated that over 70% of female students constituting the survey population did not consume enough milk and other vitamin-D-rich foods, and many showed poor food habits. Prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency among the population studied indicated that 37% of the total population was considered vitamin D insufficient and 40% of the female students residing in the hostels also had vitamin D insufficiency ( < 5 μg/day) based on self-reported dietary and selected fortified food consumption.
Acknowledgements
A special appreciation and acknowledgment goes to Mr Stewart John Brooker, English Lecturer at UAE University, for proofreading this manuscript.
Declarations of interest: The investigator would like to express his sincere appreciation to the Research Affairs at the United Arab Emirates University for the financial support of this project under grant number 01-02-6-11/05. The investigator would like to express his gratitude to Al Ain Dairy in providing some dairy product samples and to United Foods Company in providing some oil samples.