Department of Food and Nutrition, Osmania University College for Women, Hyderabad, 500001 India.
* Home Science, Nagpur University, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.
Dietary surveys were carried out in six fluorosis endemic villages of Korpana and Rajura Tehsils of Chandrapur district. Results have shown that one third of the total fluoride ingestion was contributed by the food stuffs and the remaining by water used for drinking and cooking purposes. The calcium was deficient in their diets by 52%. As adequate dietary calcium is found to mitigate the toxic effects of fluoride, the diet of the population was modified (diets M1, M2 and M3) without changing their existing dietary pattern, replacing red gram dhal by calcium rich locally available Soya bean, Bengal gram, Green gram, Leafy vegetables and other vegetables. A marginal increase in the fluoride content from existing 479.3 to mean modified 780.3 mg/day was observed. In addition, there was an improvement in protein, fat, carbohydrate and energy. Calcium fluoride plots of the existing diet and three modified diets are plotted on Deshmukh-Vali diagram where from it is seen that the increased Calcium intake has sufficiently reduced Fluoride bioavailability in diet from existing 6.57 mg to mean modified 3.3 mg.
