Nutrient intakes of Canadian adults: results from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS)-2015 Public Use Microdata File

Abstract

Background: Accurate estimates of the usual intake of nutrients are important for monitoring nutritional adequacy and diet quality of populations. In Canada, comprehensive, nationally representative nutrient estimates have not been available since the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS)-Nutrition 2004 survey.

Objective: The objective of this research was to assess nutrient intakes, distributions, and adequacy of the intakes of Canadian adults.

Methods: Participants' first 24-h dietary recall, and the second-day recall from a subset of participants from the recently released CCHS 2015 Public Use Microdata File (PUMF) were used to estimate usual intakes of macronutrients, vitamins, and minerals in adults [≥19 y, excluding lactating females and those with invalid energy intake (EI)]. Usual intakes by DRI age-sex groups were estimated using the National Cancer Institute method, adjusted for age, sex, misreporting status, weekend/weekday, and sequence of recall analyzed (first/second) with outliers removed (final sample, n = 11,992). Usual intakes from food were assessed for prevalence of inadequacy in relation to DRI recommendations.

Results: Canadian macronutrient intakes were within the recommended acceptable macronutrient distribution ranges. EI was 2154 kcal/d for males (19+) and 1626 kcal/d for females (19+). A high prevalence of inadequate intakes was seen for vitamin A (>47%), vitamin D (>94%), vitamin C (>29% for nonsmokers and >59% for smokers), magnesium (>45%), and calcium (>44%), whereas <25% and <40% of adults (19+) had intakes above the adequate intake for fiber and potassium, respectively. Canadians continue to consume sodium in excess of recommendations (74.8% of males and 47.6% of females).

Conclusions: A significant number of Canadian adults may not be meeting recommendations for several essential nutrients, contributing to nutrient inadequacies. These results highlight the nutrients of concern by specific age-sex groups that may be important for public health interventions aimed at improving diet quality and nutrient adequacy for Canadian adults.

Keywords: CCHS national nutrition survey; Canada; DRI age-sex groups; National Cancer Institute (NCI) method; adults; dietary assessment; nutrient adequacy; nutrient intakes.

FIGURE 1

Prevalence of inadequate intakes for nutrients with an estimated average requirement of Canadian adults (aged ≥19 y) A) males and B) females. Data Source: Statistics Canada, Canadian Community Health Survey, Nutrition (2015) – Public Use Microdata File. All intakes are based on food and beverage consumption only and exclude intakes from vitamin or mineral supplements. The National Cancer Institute method (NCI method) for estimating usual dietary intake was used. The following covariates were adjusted for in all NCI models: age, sex, dietary misreporting status, day of the week (weekend versus weekday), and sequence of dietary recall analyzed (first or second). Outliers for nutrient intake were defined and removed using the methodology reported in Davis et al. (31). The number of respondents removed due to outlier methodology varied between 1 and 33 respondents for each nutrient. The analytical sample size before outlier removal was n = 11,992. All estimates were weighted for population-level estimates using sampling survey weights provided by Statistics Canada. All reported SEs were bootstrapped using the 500 boot weights provided by Statistics Canada. EAR, estimated average requirement.