Abstract
Elemental concentrations from the UK total diet study reflecting the contents of foodstuffs of the diet and their preparation have been compared with the elemental concentration of the study reflecting the contents of the foodstuffs alone. A relationship is defined for a group of elements for which intake concentrations are constant from both studies. A second group is composed of elements for which there are sources other than foods, eg., from food processing, food preparation or from adventitious contact. The defined relationship enables the results from any subsequent adult dietary study to be assessed in terms of the dietary concentration of elements and this is exemplified by a control duplicate diet study.