Contribution Of Drinking Water To Dietary Intakes Of Nutrient Minerals In Bangladesh

Groundwater is a repository of various minerals that are essential micronutrients and can aid proper physiological functioning of human body if consumed as drinking water. This study assesses the quality of household potable water in Bangladesh in terms of selected nutrient minerals (Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Mo, P, Ni, K, Se, Na, and Zn) and estimates their contribution to the dietary reference intake (DRI) values for males and females established by the Institute of Medicine. It has been found that drinking water contributes largely to the intake of iron and manganese (median population fulfilling >25% of their DRI values) mainly because elevated concentration of these elements in groundwater in Bangladesh. The contributions of Ca and Mg, the two essential elements for good cardiovascular health, are moderate (>5% and >8% DRI fulfilled for the 50 percentile population in the case of Ca and Mg, respectively) and so are for Na, Se and Cu (each contributing >4% of DRI). The dietary contribution from the rest of the minerals (Mo, K, P, and Zn) is very much marginal.