| Abstract |
Bibliografical Research: According to evidence of the European Union, the
percentange of overweight and obesity Greek population comes up to 67% (www.iaso.org). Intensive studies like the CARDIA, the NHANES, organisations like the National Dairy Council and researchers like Zemel have referred to the antiobesity
impact of calcium. It is hypothesized that calcium, besides other, might play important role in weight control.
Aim: To investigate the sources of calcium in the diet of the rural Cretan population, to find whether people have sufficient or inadequate calcium intakes and to explore a
possible relationship between calcium and obesity factors.
Method: The research was a part of a cross-sectional study in a rural population of
Messara at Heraklion of Crete in order to investigate the health status and the
presence of cronic diseases among the population. The sample accounted for 243
participants (114 male and 129 female) age (18-77 year) who completed a 3-day diet
record . The response rate was 91,4%.
Results: Men had BMI 28,5 Kg/m2 (SD=3,64) and women had BMI 29,6 Kg/m2
(SD=5,47). 83,1% of the total population were overweight and obese, which means
that 50,9% of men were overweight and 34,2% were obese. For women the
percentages were 37,2% and 44,2% respectively.
The mean average daily calcium intake was 713 mg (SD = 332). 56,8% of
participants, that is 50% of male and 62,8% of female, had inadequate calcium
intake. Men received in average more calcium daily (p= 0,003). The mean average
calcium intake was not affected by age or by merital status of population. It was
related however to the educational level of population (p= 0,020). Smokers had
more calcium than did non smokers (p= 0,019). Also those who followed fasting
«often» took more calcium than those who followed fasting «rarely» (p= 0,001). 30% of dietary calcium of the total came by milk sources. People who had high calcium
intake totally, had high consumption of milk sources (p<0,001) too. Dietary sources
of calcium were not connected to sex. The calcium was related to fat, % of energy
from fat and to the kind of fat eaten. People had low prevalence of intake of Ca
supplements Ca (3,7% of total population and 42,9% of those who took any
supplement). Prevalence of supplements was affected by gender (p= 0,004), which
means that women took more often supplements and especially calcium.
The correlation of calcium intake to obesity factors and serum lipids level was not of
statistical significance. The ratio Ca/Kcal was positively correlated to % LS (p=
0,035). When obese people where compared to normalweight, they did not differ in
calcium intake or in the consumtion of milk & cream products. Obese people differ in
the intake of foods from cheese food group. The relationship was normal> obese>
overweight (p= 0,009).
Conclusions: The present study is important because it revealed the insufficience
in calcium intake of the specific population. It enlighted in the main sources of dietary
calcium intake of the population and to the factors that affect this intake. The findings
were alarming. Indeed the high degree of inadequate intake of calcium was worring.
There was some results supporting the possible relationship between dietary calcium
intake and obesity factors. On the contrary, most results did not support the first
hypothesis which reffered as the higher calcium intakes were connected to the lower
obesity markers. However there are still some questions that have not yet been
answered. Those need further research.
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Πηγές ασβεστίου στη διατροφή αγροτικού πληθυσμού της Κρήτης. Σχέση ασβεστίου με δείκτες παχυσαρκίας
