Definitions

The frequency of fruit and vegetable consumption was assessed with questions from the Behavioural Risk Factor Surveillance System in the United States.²⁵ Respondents were asked:

1) “How often do you usually drink fruit juices such as orange, grapefruit or tomato? (for example, once a day, three times a week, twice a month)”

2) “Not counting juice, how often do you usually eat fruit?”

3) “How often do you (usually) eat green salad?”

4) “How often do you usually eat potatoes, not including French fries, fried potatoes, or potato chips?”

5) “How often do you (usually) eat carrots?”

6) “Not counting carrots, potatoes or salad, how may servings of other vegetables do you usually eat?”

Physical activity level was based on total energy expenditure (EE) during leisure time. EE was calculated from the reported frequency and duration of all of a respondent’s leisure-time physical activities in the three months before his or her 2004 CCHS interview and the metabolic energy demand (MET value) of each activity, which was independently established.²⁶

EE = Σ (Ni*Di *METi / 365 days), where
Ni = number of occasions of activity i in a year,
Di = average duration in hours of activity i, and
METi = a constant value for metabolic energy cost of activity i.

An EE of 3 or more kilocalories per kilogram per day (KKD) was defined as active; 1.5 to 2.9 KKD, moderately active; and less than 1.5 KKD, sedentary.

Four categories were established for current marital status: married or living common-law; divorced or separated; widowed; and never married.

Household income was based on the number of people in the household and total household income from all sources in the 12 months before the interview.

Respondents were grouped into four education categories based on the highest level attained: less than secondary graduation, secondary graduation, some postsecondary, and postsecondary graduation.

To measure chronic conditions, respondents were asked about long-term physical conditions that had lasted or were expected to last six months or longer and that had been diagnosed by a health professional. Three conditions were considered for this analysis: high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease.

Ethnicity was based on the question: “People living in Canada come from many different cultural and racial backgrounds. Are you:

1. White?”
2. Chinese?”
3. South Asian (e.g., East Indian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, etc.)?”
4. Black?”
5. Filipino?”
6. Latin American?”
7. Southeast Asian (e.g., Cambodian, Indonesian, Laotian, Vietnamese, etc.)?”
8. Arab?”
9. West Asian (e.g., Afghan, Iranian, etc.)?”
10. Japanese?”
11. Korean?”
12. Aboriginal Peoples of North America (North American Indian, Métis, Inuit/Eskimo)?”
13. Other – specify.

For the comparison with the White population in the United States, category 1 was selected. To compare ethnic groups in Canada, the following categories were used: White (1); Black (4); Southeast/East Asian (2, 5, 7, 10, 11); off-reserve Aboriginal (12); and Other (3, 6, 8, 9, 13). Multiple responses across the categories defined here were coded to “Other.”