Data source

The 2004 Canadian Community Health Survey — Nutrition was designed to collect information about the household population’s food and nutrient intake at the national and provincial levels.  It excludes members of the regular Canadian Forces, residents of the three territories, people living on Indian reserves, in institutions, or in some remote areas, as well as all residents (military and civilian) of Canadian Forces bases. Detailed descriptions of the CCHS design, sample and interview procedures are available in a published report.⁴

A total of 35,107 people completed an initial 24-hour dietary recall.  A sub-sample of 10,786 people completed a second recall 3 to 10 days later.  Response rates were 76.5% and 72.8%, respectively.  A number of invalid and “null” recalls were excluded from the responses, as were records for breastfeeding children and children younger than 1 year of age.

The proportion of the population exceeding the tolerable upper intake level (UL) for sodium was estimated from the data collected during the two interviews using the Software for Intake Distribution program (SIDE).^5,6

The bootstrap method, which takes into account the complex survey design, was used to estimate standard errors, coefficients of variation and confidence intervals.^7,8  The significance level was set at p < 0.05.