Millions of British women of all ages are not getting their required vitamins and minerals

Published: 08 June 2010

A review, commissioned by the Health Supplements Information Service has discovered that many British women are eating potentially dangerous diets low in vitamins and minerals.

Dietitian Carrie Ruxton and Dr Emma Derbyshire of Manchester Metropolitan University reviewed 110 published papers covering women’s health for the journal Nutrition Bulletin.

They discovered that even at school age, more than half of girls aged 11-18 did not get eat the recommended levels of vital minerals such as magnesium, potassium, iodine and zinc. Almost half did not get the recommended level of iron from their daily diet.

20% of women of childbearing age (19-50) were also lacking in iron and 11% were lacking in vitamin B2. More worrying was the fact that 80% of adult women lacked vitamin D, which pregnant women need to strengthen a baby’s bones and reduce the likelihood of an underweight birth.

FAB says, “Bread should play an important part in a woman’s daily diet because it provides many of the crucial vitamins and minerals that women were reported to be lacking in this review. For example, four medium slices of white bread a day would provide 15% of the RDA of iron and 31 % of the RDA of calcium for a woman aged 19-50. Four medium slices of wholemeal bread provides 0.35mg of thiamin (vitamin B1) which is 45% of the RDA for a woman aged 19-50 years old.  The same serving will also deliver 42% of a woman’s niacin (Vitamin B3) RNI.”

One of the easiest ways to include bread in your diet is by eating a sandwich at lunch. For lots of delicious and healthy sandwich ideas, see the recipes section on our website.